


Warmth

by Rahar_Moonfire



Series: Warmth [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Coran is the crazy uncle, F/M, Galra!Keith, Hunk and Lance are bros, I'm using male pronouns until Pidge comes out as female, Lance and Allura are siblings, M/M, Pidge is a girl but doesn't care what pronouns are used, Shiro Is Still Space Dad, Slow Burn, altean!lance, klance, shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-13 07:46:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 61,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7968361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rahar_Moonfire/pseuds/Rahar_Moonfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>COMPLETED!</b> Sequel is up under the title <i>Chill</i>.</p><p>Fill for prompt on the Voltron kinkmeme.</p><p>They lost. Voltron lost. 10,000 years ago, Altea lost. Now they have a chance to fight again, to win. They had to win. To win meant to survive. </p><p>Woken from a 10,000 year slumber, Allura and Lance struggle to find their place in a universe as members of an an endangered species. As the Heir of the lost Altea, Allura will do anything to punish the Galra for the brutal massacre of their people. As her Sentinel and brother, Lance will do anything to protect Allura. No matter the cost. With help from a newly discovered species called Humans, a Galra halfbreed rebel, and the Altean counselor woken with them, the rebellion and Voltron might have a fighting chance.</p><p>If only things were that simple.</p><p><b>Chapter 19 summary:</b> In which Keith is a thinker, Allura is actually a Goddess, Keith is suspicious, and Sendak plots revenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Frigid Defeat

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** This is a fill for a prompt on the Voltron: Legendary Defender kinkmeme. Here's the link:
> 
> https://voltron-kink.dreamwidth.org/1161.html?thread=273545

He’d often wondered what would happen if someone stayed in the healing pods for millennia. Would they age to the point their body was too physically old to safely revive? Would they shrivel up to a withered old husk until they crumbled to dust? Or would they remain perfectly preserved until the day the pods were opened and _then_ crumble into dust? Or would they legitimately remain in perfect condition only to wake up sometime far in the future, alone, lost, and confused?

These were questions he’d thought about sometimes while he should have been paying closer attention in his language classes. But who could blame him for choosing to focus on the lovely men and women in his class instead? The healing pods were for healing. They had never been used for extended periods with a few notable exceptions. There simply wasn’t enough data to accurately answer those questions, and no scientist had been willing to undergo a test for an organized experiment. So why focus on unanswerable questions?

He probably should have, he thought. Funny how the most minor of questions came back to haunt him now. He should be paying more attention to the explosions wreaking havoc on the particle barrier surrounding the Castle of Lions. He should be flying one of the fighters with the other soldiers taking down the enemy Galra ships, protecting his people. He should be helping his father cover the evacuation of the handful of survivors back to their home planet Altea.

But he wasn’t. He couldn’t stop staring at his sister now slumbering in a healing pod. It had not been easy forcing her into the device. He’d had to manhandle her into the pod at their father’s command. Even so, she’d almost managed to drag him into the pod along with her. He'd somehow freed himself from her frantically grasping hands and stepped back just far enough for the pod to seal and start the cryogenic process.

Her terrified eyes, her desperate cries, the look of betrayal on her face… He would never forget them for as long as he lived; which, he considered, glancing up at the ceiling high above where the alarms blared through the comm system, wouldn't be for much longer.

"Son.”

He turned to his king and father, aware of the fear and guilt clearly written on his face. “You realize she’ll never forgive me for this,” he said, feeling a heavy weight settle in his gut.

His king, the ruler of Altea and lord of the Castle of Lions, bowed his head so his white hair shadowed his face. “I believe she will in time,” he said gravely. “I still need to hide the Lions.”

The young prince hesitated. “‘I?’” he repeated, not necessarily sure he liked that choice of word. “Father, what-?”

“I’m so sorry, my son.”

“King Alfor!”

Both the king and the prince turned to the new arrival. “What is it, Coran?” King Alfor acknowledged.

"We can’t maintain this position any longer without compromising the particle barrier beyond its designed limits,” the red haired man said as he gasped for breath.

Alfor nodded and glanced at his son. The young prince was staring fixedly at Coran with an expression of fear. The boy was losing hope. Alfor mourned the thought that his son would very likely lose more than just his hope before this madness ended.

Alfor placed a hand on his son’s shoulder and squeezed. The prince wobbled slightly at the contact. It was this momentary show of weakness that Alfor used to his advantage. He tightened his grip on his son’s shoulder and slung the boy to the side. The moment he heard the solid thud of his son’s back impacting the cool metal interior of the cryogenic pod, Alfor activated the device.

His son’s stunned expression flashed to horror an instant before his whole body slumped into unconsciousness and the cryogenic process began. The sight pained Alfor greatly.

"You’ve given up, then?” Coran asked in an unusually serious voice.

“For this fight? Yes,” the king admitted. “But for this war? For my children? No. That’s why I would like you to accompany them, if you would. They will need someone to look after them.”

Coran studied his King’s back, taking note of the slumped shoulders and air of sadness. Reluctantly, he nodded. “As you wish, Sire. Although,” he added in an attempt to lighten the heavy atmosphere, “I doubt Allura will need much looking after. She is a strong young woman. Takes too much after her father.”

Alfor chuckled. “That she does,” he said, gazing at his slumbering daughter. “And Lance always took after his mother,” he added with a wry smile. “That is, perhaps, what worries me most.”

Coran sighed. “When would you like me to enter a pod, Sire?” he asked.

"Now, if you would,” the king said firmly. He turned back to his advisor and friend. “I’ll take over piloting the Castle from here.”

"As you wish, my lord.”

With one last look at his children, King Alfor left the healing chambers for the bridge. He would be damned if he let his children die and the Lions be captured now. He was doing this for them: for Allura and Lance. It was the right thing to do. Perhaps if he kept telling himself that, one day he would believe it.


	2. Frozen Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the sleepers wake up and have the play catch up on current events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Two updates in two days while school is on? Woah. Enjoy this while it lasts y'all.

Flashes.

.

Catches of color.

.

.

Soft, muffled sounds.

.

.

.

Darkness rivaling the depths of a gravity hole.

.

.

.

.

Silence.

.

.

a

.

.

l

.

.

o

.

.

n

.

.

e

.

.

.

Muffled murmurs.

_?_

Tha-thunk.

_??_

Knock-knock.

_??!?_

Hiss.

Cold. So cold.

Falling.

Warmth.

“…up…”

He forced his eyes open and immediately squeezed them shut again.

“Too bright,” he mumbled through an unexpectedly hoarse throat.

“Wake _UP!_ ”

“What the quiznak?!?” he screamed, very much awake. 

He pushed himself away from whatever -not a thing, he realized, a person- _who_ ever had been holding him and flailed for balance.  He still felt clouded, like his mind was full of yelmor fur, but his eyes were wide open and zipping all over the place trying to figure what the frackin’ quiznak was going on around here. He stabilized himself by using the healing pod as a brace.

Healing pod.

“Father?” he called softly, not sure if he was hoping for a response or just seeking some sort of comfort in the endearment.

“Gone.”

He blinked and turned to the voice he recognized. There, standing next to the rather large Altenoid alien with blunted ears -what happened to them? Were they cut off?- was his sister. 

“‘Llura?” he said, attempting to swallow the lump in his dry throat.

Tears brimmed over his older sister’s blue-violet eyes and down her cheeks.  He straightened, feeling the lingering sleepiness begin to fade away from his mind leaving a cold, sinking feeling, settling like a stone in his gut.

“He’s gone,” Allura said again, her voice watery and hoarse like his.  “He’s gone. Father’s gone.  He's dead.”

Dead?

“But I just saw him!” he cried.  “He threw me in-” He froze, staring at the device he leaned against in shock.  “…in there,” he finished weakly.  He gulped and took an unsteady step away from the healing pod, followed by another.  “But that… How… Altea.  We were going back to Altea to help with the fight. Wha…”

“Altea’s gone too,” Allura all but sobbed, a note of fury in her voice. “It’s been destroyed.”

His legs tingled and his fingers twitched. It couldn’t be true. Altea was home. Altea was safe. Altea was… gone. He stiffened when arms looped around his shoulders but reacted when the familiar scent of his sister filled his nose. Safe. Allura was safe. When he returned the hug, it wasn’t from a conscious decision so much as an instinctual need to feel safe.

“I… I’m sorry,” he said. She probably wouldn’t have even heard him, had her ear not been so close to his mouth. “I’m sorry I pushed you in there. Father told me to. He wanted to keep you safe. He-”

“I know,” she whispered, running her fingers through his short brown hair that always reminded her of their mother. “I know.”

He was crying, but so was she. Allura was his big sister. They taunted and fought and argued and teased and wrestled and made each other’s lives hell at times, but they were siblings. They could depend on each other. They had to.

Not that they had much choice now.

His thoughts skidded to an abrupt halt when his ears were suddenly assaulted by the sound of bawling. Not the quiet weeping he and Allura had been experiencing, oh no. This was a loud, borderline obnoxious, definitely snotty and drool-filled cry that he did not recognize.

He lifted his gaze to the center of the healing chamber and was caught off guard by the sight of three unknown Altenoids. Well, two unknown Altenoids actually. The one causing all the racket was none other than the person who caught him when he first woke up.

“Don’t be afraid,” the oldest Altenoid said. He was tall and well built, much like Lance’s military instructor. His hair was jet black with the sole exception of a tuft of white that hung over his forehead. A prominent scar sliced across the Altenoid’s face and his right arm was mechanical. He must have quite a story to tell. 

“We don’t mean you any harm,” the Altenoid said calmly, placing his left hand over his chest. “My name’s Shiro. This is Pidge,” he said, pointing to the shortest Altenoid who had messy blonde hair, wore strange circular wire things over his eyes, and wore a white and green shirt that was much too big for his body. “And this is Hunk,” Shiro continued, pointing to the large Altenoid.

Hunk had brown hair that was so dark, it could easily be mistaken for black. His skin was darker than Shiro’s or Pidge’s -what kind of names were those anyway?- but he wore similar style clothing. Perhaps they were all from the same planet. Speaking of...

“I’m Lance, Prince of Altea and Sentinel of the Castle of Lions,” he replied, not-so-subtly stepping out of his sister’s embrace, but not out of her touch, to face the intruders more directly. “What are you doing here?”

“Um,” Shiro said, scratching his neck awkwardly. “Would you believe me if I said a giant, yellow, mechanical lion brought us here?”

“Giant, yellow-”

“Were you its pilot?” Allura asked excitedly.

“No, Hunk was. It’s a long story,” Shiro said waving his hands in a defensive manner.

The babbling sound of a language not recognized by the translator chips suddenly filled Lance's ears and he turned to the big Altenoid, Hunk, in confusion.

“They don’t have translators yet,” Shiro said calmly. “Actually, I was kind of hoping you guys had a few spare-”

The sharp hissing sound of another healing pod opening startled the group. Lance would have been lying if he hadn’t hoped for a single moment that maybe their father had joined them in cryogenic sleep. But when Coran came stumbling out in all his awkward glory, Lance felt his hope flicker and fade away again. He loved Coran like the crazy uncle he was, but he wasn’t…

He wasn’t Father.

“Coran!” Allura cried, rushing to their uncle’s side.

“Gah!” the man exclaimed, adopting one of his signature surprise poses. “Intruders in the castle! Let me at ‘em! I’ll take the whole lot o’ you!”

Lance rolled his eyes and used the chance to jab a single finger in his uncle’s side. The resulting squeal and hop was definitely still worth it. Father may not be here anymore, but Lance would be an idiot if he gave up this chance to live. His father died to make sure he could live, so he would live. Hopefully, he could find some fun in living while he was at it.

“Quiznak! Lance you- You, _you_!”

“Me,” Lance said with an elegant flourish. “I know. My awesome has simply swept you off your feet. Too bad I don’t go for older men." He examined his fingernails proudly listening to Coran’s flustered lecture.

“Enough, both of you,” Allura commanded and both Lance and Coran stilled. Neither wanted to wind up on the wrong end of Princess Allura’s infamous temper. “Father is dead, Altea has been destroyed, we have strangers in the Castle, and you two are acting like children!”

“Well,” Lance edged, “technically, I _am_ the ‘kid’ sibling.” He winked which earned him a flat stare from his sister and a barely smothered snicker from Coran.

“The first thing we need to do is get these two translators,” Allura said, clapping her hands together.  She was doing a magnificent job fighting back her tears and taking charge. Father would have been proud. Lance certainly was. Which naturally meant it was time to tease.

“Oh,” he said, resting his cheek in the palm of his hand and giving Allura his best watery smile. He even managed a sniff or two.  “Look at my big sister. All grown up. So proud. I guess that means I get dibs on first use of the holodeck.”

“Not so fast,” Allura snapped. “I still have dibs on that. And anyway, you need to go do a systems check and be sure everything is up and running. Coran,” she continued, ignoring her brother’s groan, “I want you to get your hands on any translators you can find.  Hopefully we still have a few.”

“I’m sure we have some,” Coran said, waving away the princess’s worries dismissively. “But do any of them work, now _there’s_ the question. I mean, who knows how well technology that’s… Hmm, how long have we been asleep for? A few decades? A century, maybe?”

Allura’s face drooped and Lance felt that uncertainty solidify in his stomach once more. 

“Ten thousand,” she murmured.  “We’ve been asleep for 10,000 periods.”

Lance felt the cold claw of despair begin to dig its talons into his heart.  He nodded shakily.  “I’ll go…start running diagnostics on the Castle’s systems.”

* * *

 

Shiro watched Lance leave and couldn’t help but feel his heart go out to the young prince. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know I didn’t cause this or that I can fix it, but… I’m still sorry.”

Princess Allura shook her head.  “Don’t be,” she said. “As you said, you haven’t done anything wrong.  Actually,” she said, her lips quirking up in a wry smile, “you may have done something right.  Come with me,” she said, waving the Altenoids after her. “Tell me, you say you arrived here in a yellow mechanical cat, correct?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ma’am?” Allura repeated the unfamiliar word in confusion.

A faint blush colored the man’s cheeks. “It’s a respectful term for a lady where I - where _we_  come from,” he explained. “We all come from the same planet: Earth. It’s in the Milky Way galaxy.”

“Earth,” Allura murmured, feeling the word roll of her tongue. She hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t recognize that name, but then again I have been asleep for a while, so who knows what might have happened!”

Shiro wisely did not pursue that subject. 

“How did you come by the Yellow Lion? You said your friend Hunk was its pilot?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder to the other two Altenoids following along behind them and speaking some form of gibberish. Her brow furrowed in concern. She sincerely hoped Coran could find at least a temporary translator soon.

“It’s a long story,” Shiro said, the corners of his eyes narrowing. “Basically, I was captured by the Galra and-”

“The Galra?” Allura gasped. “They still exist?”

Shiro’s shoulders slumped. “Unfortunately. They captured me and my team on a science expedition. I was able to escape but… I’m not sure where the others… I don’t really remember…” He sighed heavily. “My memories of captivity are spotty at best,” he reluctantly admitted. “All I can say for sure is I got away with _this_ ,” he held his right mechanical right arm, giving it a suspicious look before letting it drop back to his side, “and then Pidge and Hunk found me. I’ll tell you the details later, but during our… let’s call it our ‘misadventure,’ we literally stumbled upon the Yellow Lion. It wouldn’t let anyone but Hunk fly it, which was weird but after what I vaguely remember seeing…” He shrugged again, this time with a wry smile. “So I basically gave them the go-ahead to ditch class today in favor of flying a giant, mechanical lion through a wormhole to this place.”

Allura lifted an eyebrow, intrigued. “The sounds like an interesting story,” she said. “Perhaps when your companions get their translators and we retrieve the other Lions, I can hear it in full.”

Shiro stopped mid-step in surprise. “ _Other_ Lions,” he gasped. “You know where they are?”

“Of course,” the princess said, tossing a grin over her shoulder. Her silver-white hair tumbled down her back in an elegant cascade complimenting her perfectly white teeth and dark skin. “They’re connected to me. I can use the Castle to track them down then you all will retrieve them, form Voltron, and fight the Galra. The Galra are still an empire now, I’m assuming.”

“Yes,” Shiro said, still mulling over the thought of actually forming that giant robot thing he, Hunk, and Pidge had had a vision of in that cave where they found the Yellow Lion. “Their emperor is a real piece of work.”

“I’m sure,” Allura said snidely. “The first emperor was an evil man with no heart and only a desire for destruction.”

“That sounds like the current emperor alright,” Shiro said in a grave voice. "His name's Zarkon and-"

"Zarkon?!" the princess cried. "He's still alive? But how... No. No," she said again, calming down. "This isn't Zarkon. He's probably just an descendant with the same name. Evil bastard."

“I'm right with you there," Shiro said enthusiastically. "From what I can understand, the Galra who follow him are fanatics. It’s like he’s the Hitler to the Galra’s Nazis.”

Allura’s snow white eyebrows furrowed in confusion and Shiro coughed. “Sorry. That’s a reference to an event on Earth.”

“Ah,” the princess nodded, accepting the answer.

Without another word, she waved her hand over a panel of crystals and the door slide open revealing what could only be considered as the bridge. Prince Lance was already there running through what Shiro assumed were system diagnostics. As she approached the pedestal in the middle, Lance tossed a glance at them. He opened his mouth to speak before the door slid open once more allowing a gasping Coran to enter.

“Here,” the advisor said, presenting Princess Allura with two translators. “They probably need a few upgrades to whatever version our friend Shiro here has, but they should do in a pinch.”

“Thank you Coran,” Allura said with a grateful smile. She carefully took the small devices and approached Hunk and Pidge. “Shiro, if you could translate for me.”

“Of course Princess.”

“Very well.” Allura squared her shoulders and said, “These are temporary translators which should help you understand our language. You may feel a slight prick when I place them on your ear, but otherwise there shouldn’t be in any pain. I will endeavor to find more updated versions for both you and myself as soon as I am able. Do you consent to this?”

Pidge was the first to nod after Shiro finished repeating what Allura said in the native Earth language. Hunk was more hesitant with his acceptance, eyeing the device suspiciously. Allura tucked the slender translator around Pidge’s left ear and activated it. Pidge jerked and gave a small cry of surprise, rubbing the area tenderly.

“I apologize for the pain,” the princess said. “It shouldn't last too long.”

Pidge’s eyes grew round and he adjusted the round wire-and-glass things over his eyes in shock. “I can understand you,” he gasped.

The princess chuckled and turned to Hunk, placing and activating his translator as well. Hunk gave a slightly louder cry and fondled his aching ear with watery eyes.

“That hurt, man,” he grumbled. “I’m a sensitive guy.”

“Could be worse,” Prince Lance said, finally speaking up. He waited until he had everyone’s attention before speaking again. “She could have poked a hole through your ear with her fingernail. My sister may be pretty, but if it’s gentleness you want,” he winked flirtatiously and flashed a sly smirk at Hunk, “I’m sure I can help with that.”

“Lance!” Allura snapped. “For the Lions' sake, control yourself.”

Lance grinned shamelessly. “What can I say? I like what I like.”

“Um,” Pidge stuttered, “did some space prince just _flirt_ with Hunk?”

“I’m just going to pretend that didn’t happen,” Hunk said, trying very hard to stop the blush from flooding his face. He was not into guys. Not that he had any problem with guys liking other guys. It just that _he_ didn’t like other guys.

“Is he always like that?” Shiro asked, currently trying to decide whether to be amused or mildly horrified by the Altean prince’s manner.

“Oh no,” Coran said. “Not at all.”

“Oh that’s go-”

“Normally he flirts on first sight,” Coran continued casually. “Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long. Although, he was probably waiting until your two friends understood him before flirting. Don’t worry. It’ll only get worse after this, I promise you.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing,” Pidge mumbled.


	3. Cold Foreboding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Coran may or may not have the space plague, the paladins get their first glimpses of their Lions, and Lance doesn't like the assumption Allura makes regarding his abilities, or lack thereof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Ok, so I meant to post this late last night but I was whipped from work so I'm posting tonight instead. I sincerely apologize for the poor quality of the previous chapters in regards to the spelling. I got a new tablet and its autocorrect kept changing words like "Allura" to Allure," "Shiro" to "Shirl" (is that even a word?), and "Galra" to "Gala," etc. I swear, I almost threw my tablet across the floor.
> 
> I ended up calling Dad and having him turn autocorrect off. So this chapter was completely written without autocorrect. I've gone over it once but I'll go over it again tomorrow morning just in case. Please let me know if you catch any errors so I can fix them. 
> 
> Oh, and spaghettification is a real thing. It's the scientific word for what happens to something or someone who gets sucked into a black hole. I'm not even kidding. Otherwise, enjoy~

“Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news,” Coran announced, straightening from the lit panel he’d been focused on for the past hour or so. “Good news: the Princess and I have managed to locate two of the missing Lions.”

“Sure, sure,” Lance drawled, waving his hand in mock annoyance. “Give big sis all the credit. I didn’t do a thing. Nope. Didn’t even lift a finger.”

“Ahem,” Coran coughed into his hand.

“Bless you,” Lance said graciously. “Better get that checked. Don’t want to be catching space plague now, do we?”

“Space plague?” Hunk stuttered, mildly terrified of the idea. “That’s a _thing_?”

Lance considered a moment before replying, a shit-eating grin working its way across his face. “Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a ‘thing’ so much as it’s a ‘creature’ bent on destroying all food in the universe.” Hunk gasped and Pidge rolled his eyes while Lance pressed on. “It’s said the plague takes hosts and uses them as its puppets to destroy every morsel of food in existence.”

“Not the food!" Hunk exclaimed.

“Lance,” Shiro said with a heavy sigh. “You and I both know there’s no such thing as a space plague.”

“Really?” Lance asked innocently. “Are you sure? Would you bet your life on it?”

“Ah-ahem!”

“Bless you Coran,” Lance said, concern sparkling merrily in his eyes. “Perhaps you should take another nap in a healing pod to be sure you’re alright.”

“Lance,” Allura said, planting her hands on her hips and glaring at her little brother.

Lance slumped in defeat, glowering at his sister but wisely keeping his mouth shut.

“As I was _saying_ ,” Coran said, giving Lance the evil eye. Lance just rolled his eyes and sulked. “We found two of the other Lions: the Green and Blue Lions. The bad news is we haven’t been able to locate the Red Lion yet.”

“This could pose a problem,” Allura said, crossing her arms over her chest pensively. “The Black Lion is currently in the Castle, but it’s locked away where even I can’t reach it.” She nibbled her lower lip in worry. “The only way to free the Black Lion is to gather the other four Lions here at the Castle.”

“Why so much trouble for a Lion?” Pidge asked. “Does this have something to do with the giant robot thing we saw? That Voltron thing?”

“Voltron!?” Lance cried. “How do you know about Voltron?”

“You _saw_ Voltron? Where? When?” Allura demanded.

“Woah, easy there, guys,” Pidge said, waving his hands frantically.

“We saw it in a vision,” Shiro offered peaceably. “It was when we first found the Yellow Lion.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said. “I mean, the floor gave out underneath us, so we fell into this super-secret hidden cave place covered in these glowing yellow carving things. That's where we found Yellow. I touched the glowing yellow shield, then _POW_!”

Lance jumped and made a small cry at the sudden loud sound effect but Hunk ignored it and kept talking.

“I had this vision of this huge, _huge_ awesome robot. But it wasn’t just me,” Hunk insisted. “Shiro and Pidge saw it too. I swear I’m not crazy.”

“Relax, Hunk,” Lance said, recovering from his admittedly embarrassing display with practiced ease. “I know you’re not crazy.”

“Thanks, man,” Hunk sighed in relief.

“Yeah, totally.” Lance strolled up to Hunk, slinging an arm over the Altenoid’s shoulder with a grin. “We all know the crazy one here is Coran.”

Coran sputtered in righteous indignation. “I beg your pardon? I’ll have you know I am most certainly _not_ crazy.”

“Oh no?”

“No.” Coran squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest. “Just because my mind works on a different level than yours doesn’t mean I’m crazy.”

“Ri- Wait, did you just insult me?” Lance asked, eyeing the advisor incredulously.

“As long as our minds continue to work on different levels, I guess we’ll never know,” Coran said with a not-so-sad shrug.

Lance stared hard at Coran before bursting into enthusiastic cackles. He laughed so hard he had to lean over and brace himself on the Hunk who fumbled to keep the prince upright. Coran grinned triumphantly and gave his poofy ginger mustache a proud flick.

“You both are such children,” Allura groaned.

“You love me,” Lance said with a cheeky grin.

“Hard to believe he’s royalty,” Pidge commented, picking at the still tender spot where his translator attached to his head behind his ear.

“I like him,” Hunk said in between barely muffle snickers.

“Thanks,” the prince said, flashing a bright smile in Hunk’s direction. “Friends?”

“Totally,” Hunk said. “Space bros all the way.”

“Bros?”

“It’s short for brothers,” Hunk explained. “You know. Friends, best buddies, brothers, bros.”

The prince tilted his head to the side in thought before breaking into a heartfelt smile. “Bros then. I’ll get you into so much trouble.”

“You know,” Hunk said, now a bit hesitant, “I actually believe you.”

“If you two are finished making fools of yourselves,” Allura said in her best disappointed mother tone, “we have things to do. Now, if you will all follow me. I think it’s time we showed you something. Lance, you too.”

Shiro moved to follow the princess but paused when he noticed the confused expression on the prince’s face. He hadn’t known Prince Lance long, but from what he had seen, Lance was a generally light-hearted individual despite the loss he had suffered.  Shiro waited for the prince to join their group before following Allura.

They didn’t have to go far from the bridge. The room they entered was round and covered in an odd surface that was similar in color to the rest of the Castle’s interior surfaces, but different in texture. The white was almost iridescent in nature and glowed faintly.

“Wait,” Lance said, suspicion and annoyance dripping from his voice. “Did you really invite everyone to come watch you use the holodeck first just to rub it in?”

So this was the holodeck, Shiro realized. He studied his surroundings more closely this time and felt the faintest tingle of wonder.

“No,” the princess replied as she approached the short, round pedestal in the middle of the central platform. She pressed her hand to the device and waited for it to light up. The lights in the room suddenly dimmed to near complete darkness with the exception of the glowing pedestal. Then, pinpricks of light burst forth from the floor and walls only to stop and hover in specific locations in the air around them. It took Shiro a couple seconds to recognize the points of light were not scattered in a random pattern at all, but were organized in clusters and swirls and some even had identifying markers next to them.

“It’s a star map,” Pidge breathed, taking in the sight with growing awe.

Hunk’s eyes bugged out of his head and his mouth dropped open at the amazing sight. “We are literally standing in the middle of the galaxy,” he said, beginning to bounce on the balls of his feet in excitement. “This is so cool.”

"I don't think this is a galaxy," Shiro murmured. "I think this is the universe. Look." He pointed at a particular cluster of stars. "I think that's the Andromeda Galaxy."

“Woah!" Pidge gushed, his eyes aglow. “Imagine if we had this kind of technology back at the Garrison. Think of all the things we could do with it. We could map constellations more accurately, discover planets more easily, maybe even identify black holes by actually zooming in on the suspected location of one and studying the movements and behavior of the stars up close and personal without getting spaghettified.”

The princess smiled at the Altenoids’ reactions but bit back the desire to let them dwell on it. “I’m afraid I brought you here for another reason,” she said gravely. “Shiro, you mentioned being captured by the Galra.” Shiro nodded. “This,” she made a few quick motions with her hands, “is the current extent of the Galra Empire.”

Shiro felt his stomach drop as star system after star system changed from the pure, untainted white to a deep burgundy. The sheer number of systems conquered by the Galra was overwhelming.

“Unfortunately, I have more bad news,” Allura continued.

She waved her hands in a pulling motions and Shiro watched the stars move in the direction she pulled until a familiar spiral galaxy sparkled in the air in front of him, Pidge, and Hunk. This galaxy was still pure white, a beacon amidst a sea of red tide.

“Based on what you’ve told me of your home planet, I believe this should be your home galaxy,” Allura said gently.

“Y-yeah,” Hunk said, his eyes fixed on the slowly spinning galaxy.  “That- that’s home.”

Pidge swallowed and stepped up to the holographic galaxy to study the spiraling outer arms closely.  After a brief moment’s consideration, he pointed to a tiny pinprick near the edge of one particular arm.  “If I recall my astronomy right, Earth should be right around here,” he said in a matter-of-fact voice.

Prince Lance leaned over Hunk’s shoulder to get a better look at the point Pidge had chosen before straightening and looking back over his shoulder at his sister.  “It’s still free,” he said, a note of hope in his voice.

Allura nodded. “It is,” she agreed.  “For the moment.” 

Shiro studied the expanse of burgundy carefully and narrowed his eyes.  “They’re close,” he said in a dark tone.

“Yes,” Allura said, her shoulders drooping slightly in the dim light.  “If the Empire’s pattern of conquest holds, then your galaxy and by extension your planet will soon fall to them.”

“We can’t let that happen,” Pidge snapped. “Earth is my home. Those bastards kidnapped my family. Like hell I’m going to let them get away with that.”

“They what?” Allura gasped.

“I thought you’d never been this far out in space,” Lance said, mirroring his sister’s surprise.

Pidge flushed in disgruntled anger.  “I haven’t,” he admitted. “But my father and my brother did. They went on the science mission to Kerberos,” he said, casting a wary glance at Shiro.

Shiro stiffened and stared at Pidge dumbstruck. Pidge shifted uncomfortably but continued.  “They were captured with Shiro,” Pidge said. “Shiro managed to escape, but…”

Shiro wilted under Pidge’s hopeful gaze. “I don’t remember how I got out,” he said softly. “My memory during my captivity is spotty at best.”

“That’s not unusual,” Lance said grimly. “Before Father-” He bit his lip. “Before I went to sleep, I was a fighter pilot.  My squadron managed to free a handful of captives during our missions.  Many of them had memory problems, either self-inflicted or by outside influences.”

“PTSD,” Hunk said, nodding in understanding.

“What?”

“PTSD,” Hunk repeated. "It’s what we call that back on Earth. It means Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." He shrugged at the befuddled expression on the prince's face. "You see why we just call it PTSD.”  He chuckled and even Shiro crackled a smile.  “When someone is traumatized by something, the brain reacts in different ways," Hunk explained. "It can cause anything from memory loss to flashbacks, to mood changes, that kind of thing. It’s serious.”

Shiro felt his shoulders beginning to hunch forward when a sturdy hand planted itself on his back.  Startled, he turned and saw Hunk standing next to him with an encouraging smile. 

“Don’t worry, buddy,” Hunk said.  “You’re not alone in this. We got your back.”

“Besides,” Pidge said, a smirk on his face, “you’re the best pilot we have. Wouldn’t want to end up covered in barf again, right Hunk?”

Hunk glared at his height-challenged friend.  “That was a low blow, Pidge. Real low.”

“I’m just sayin’,” Pidge said, completely unrepentant.

“Speaking of pilots,” Allura said, clasping her hands. She ignored her brother’s sudden uncertain gaze on her and opened her hands to reveal the holograph image of the Yellow Lion.

“Allura, no,” Lance said.

“I have the right to do this, brother,” Allura said in what her father used to call her ‘princess voice.’  “This is my choice.”

“We barely know them,” Lance hissed, moving close to his sister’s side.

“And yet one of them has already impressed his Lion and become its paladin,” she countered with a smug grin in her brother’s direction. When Lance huffed but didn’t back down immediately, she softened her smile. “Trust me, brother,” she pleaded. “I know what I’m doing.”

Lance hesitated, then bowed his head in concession and stepped back.

Allura took a deep breath to center herself. “There are five Lions which make up Voltron.  Each Lion has only one paladin whose quintessence is mirrored in their corresponding Lion. The bond between each Lion and their paladin is a soul-deep and mystical one that cannot be forced by any means.”

She held out the hologram of the Yellow Lion to the Altenoids. "This is the Yellow Lion. It has a kind and gentle heart. It’s steadfast and immensely loyal to its companions. Its paladin mirrors these qualities and together the paladin and Yellow Lion form the left leg of Voltron. This is why, Hunk,” the Yellow Lion hologram floated out of Allura’s hands to hover by Hunk’s face, “you shall pilot the Yellow Lion.”

“Me?” Hunk squeaked meekly.

"You did so once already. Why stop now?" the princess said, flashing Hunk a gentle smile.

Then she cupped her hands and allowed another holographic Lion to form. This one was bright green and leaner than the Yellow Lion. A planet appeared next to the Lion with Altean symbols connecting the two.

"The Green Lion has an inquisitive mind and is ever curious,” Allura said. “It’s clever and protective of its companions. Its paladin must reflect these characteristics to form the left arm of Voltron.  Pidge,” she said, nudging the holographic Green Lion to float over to the shortest Altenoid, “you shall pilot the Green Lion.”

Pidge adjusted his wire rimmed glasses and smiled eagerly at the hologram.

Another holographic Lion materialized in the Altean princess’s hands. This one was blue and also had a planet attached to it. “The Blue Lion is playful and energetic. It views its companions as family and will do anything to keep them safe. Its paladin also reflects these qualities in order to successfully form the right leg of Voltron.  That’s why, brother,” she said, turning to Lance next to her, “I’d like you to pilot the Blue Lion.”

The Altean prince stared at the holographic Blue Lion floating before him in dumbstruck awe.  His eyes lifted to his sister’s tender blue-violet gaze as if to be sure this wasn’t a dream. If the rims of his eyes glittered a little more brightly than usual, neither acknowledged it.

“Thank you,” he murmured, cradling the Blue Lion close to his chest. Their Father may be gone, but he hadn’t left them with nothing to remember him by.

Allura fought back her own tears as she formed a fourth Lion in her hands, this one black with bright red wings. “The Black Lion is the leader of the pride,” she said.  “It’s larger and stronger than the other Lions. With a steady mind and calm demeanor, the Black Lion stands proudly by its companions in both battle and peace. Together with its paladin, it forms the decisive head of Voltron. Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion.”

Takashi Shirogane stared at the holographic Lion that was notable bigger than the others in awe. A pull he never noticed before suddenly tugged at his mind and heart, like a siren's call. It demanded his attention, summoning him to whatever lay at the other end.

“The Black Lion is currently locked within the Castle,” Allura said. “To prevent the Galra from getting their hands on all of the Lions, our Father hid them on different planets throughout the universe. However, the Black Lion he kept here, locked away. It cannot be freed until the other four Lions and their paladins are present.”

“But there are only three Lions other than the Black one here,” Hunk said, glancing at the Blue, Green, and his own Yellow Lion holograms. “Where’s the fourth?”

“I’m assuming the fourth Lion is the right arm of Voltron,” Pidge said thoughtfully. “Otherwise, we’d have a one-armed giant robot flailing around the universe.”

“That…” Hunk paused, eyes widening in surprise, “would actually be kind of funny.”

Pidge snorted. “You would.”

“That’s not how it works,” Lance said suddenly. His face was shadowed except for the light cast by his holographic Lion. “Voltron can’t be formed without all five Lions.”

“Unfortunately, my brother is correct,” Allura said sadly. She cupped her hands and a lithe, red Lion appeared. It had no planet attached to it nor any Altean words hovering nearby. “The Red Lion is faster and more agile than the other four Lions. However, that also makes it temperamental and much more unstable than the others as well. Its paladin must be wild at heart and rely on their instincts. Both must earn the others' respect before a bond can be formed.”

“But where is the Red Lion? And who’s its paladin?” Shiro asked.

The princess shook her head. “I have yet to locate either. Coran and I will continue to work towards finding it while Shiro, you and Pidge seek out the Green Lion. That means Lance-”

“Let me guess, you want Hunk to give me a ride to find Blue,” Lance said, grinning happily. “I can’t wait. I can finally fly again.”

“If you already know, then you can lead the others to the pods,” Allura said. “I’ll open a wormhole to each planet. Pidge, Lance, find your Lions and bring them back here as quickly as you can.” She grinned. “Then we can begin our quest to retrieve the Red Lion.”

“And if we meet any Galra along the way?” Pidge asked.

“The Lions _are_ weapons, you know,” Lance said, a smug grin on his face. “I bet I could out-fly and out-shoot all of you.”

“As long as you do _not_ get yourselves _or_ your Lions captured,” Allura said forcefully, aiming a glare at her brother, “then feel free to do what you need to in order to get yourselves back here safely.”

Lance leaned back, suddenly very uncomfortable. “Why do I get the feeling you’re only talking to me?” he demanded. “I’m offended by the insinuation.”

“You can be offended as long as you and your Lion come back here in one piece,” Allura snapped. She crossed her arms with a huff. “Now get going, all of you. I’ll have a wormhole open in a few ticks so hurry it up.”

Lance rolled his eyes and led the Altenoids to the pods. “Why does she always assume _I’m_ the one going to be captured?” he grumbled.


	4. Icy Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Team Voltron separates, Hunk is not impressed, and Lance plays chicken with the Galra and loses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I've named the gas giant and the moon after deities from Egyptian mythology. _Tefnut_ is one of the two children of the creator god Atem. She is a primordial goddess, the personification of the mist, dew, and rain, and the mother of the famous gods Nut and Geb (the sky and the earth respectively). The moon is named after _Khonsu_ who is literally the personification of the moon and whose name means "traveller." 
> 
> Khonsu is a shepherd moon. Shepherd moons are moons which orbit within the rings of the parent planet. Their gravity and tidal forces clear out a path from the dust, rocks, and ice in the rings as they move. They "shepherd" the ring debris aside resulting in rings of emptiness except for the moon. A good example of a shepherd moon would be Saturn's moons Prometheus, Daphnis, Pan, Janus, and Epimetheus as well as Neptune's moons Cordelia and Ophelia. Look them up. They're pretty cool.

"I think I’m going to throw up,” Hunk said in a shaky voice.

Lance flinched and suddenly did not enjoy the thought of flying in a cramped cockpit with his new Altenoid friend. “Please don’t,” he said, inching away from Hunk’s cone of aim. “I really don’t want to get stomach acid and who knows what else all over me, thank you.”

 _“Paladins,”_ Allura’s voice rang through the Yellow Lion’s communicator. _“I’ll open a wormhole for Shiro and Pidge first then I’ll open one for Hunk and my brother. The pod travels slower than the Lions, so Shiro, be prepared for your search to take a few ticks longer than Lance’s.”_

 _“What’s a tick?”_ Pidge asked rhetorically.

 _“This is very important,”_ Allura continued. _“Wormholes are one-way only, so do **not** try to come back once you reach the other side. Wait for me to reopen the wormholes calibrated for incoming travel.”_

 _“Understood, princess,”_ Shiro replied like the well-trained soldier he was.

 _“How long do we have to get to our Lions?”_ Pidge asked.

 _“I’ll reopen the wormhole at regular intervals to check on your progress,”_ Allura said.

 _“With any luck, you’ll both have your Lions and be ready to come back when we check back the first time,”_ Coran chimed in. _“Or who knows? There could be a fleet of Galra on the other side.”_

 _“Galra?!”_ Shiro gasped.

“Uhh, I’m not sure I want to do this anymore,” Hunk said.

 _“Are you sure this is safe?”_ Pidge asked urgently.

“Not funny, Coran,” Lance snapped, gripping the back of Hunk’s pilot seat tightly.

Coran’s chuckle was the last thing the group heard over their communicators before they were blasted through their respective wormholes.

Allura gave her advisor an exhausted look. “Coran, please try not to scare away our paladins before they even get their Lions together. The last thing we need right now is a stroke of bad luck.”

* * *

 

Lance had to blink several times to clear his head after the trip through the wormhole.  Fortunately, his vision settled just in time for him to flinch out of the way when Hunk turned green and let out a huge belch.

“Do _not_ throw up,” he pleaded, waving his hands desperately.  “At least wait until I’m out of here before barfing. Please, please, _please!_ ”

“So sorry,” Hunk panted, carefully taking slow, deep breaths to fight back his uneasy stomach.  “So sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Lance said quickly. “Just focus on getting to the planet’s surface without vomiting.”

Hunk sat up and began tinkering with the controls. Lance could feel the indistinct sensation of the Yellow Lion communicating with its paladin, like a distant buzzing in the back of his head. He remembered the stories of the experience from the previous paladins who served his father, King Alfor, before and during the Great War against the Galra Empire.

The war they'd lost.

The war they would not lose again.

The war they _could not_ lose again.

“Hey Lance- er, Your Highness,” Hunk corrected quickly, “er, Prince, er-”

“Just Lance,” the prince said, grinning broadly. “Formality wasn’t too big of an issue with me. I’m just the Sentinel, after all.”

Hunk hesitated. “Um, right, whatever that is,” he mumbled. He shook his head suddenly. “That’s not important right now. Look at those signals and tell me they’re not what I think they are,” Hunk said, pointing to several moving points on the view screen in front of them.

The yellow light covering several view screens lit the Lion’s cockpit but Lance focused on the spot the Yellow Lion’s paladin pointed to. The dark, angry red symbols were unmistakable.

“Galra!”

“What?!” Hunk cried, gripping the flight controls and yanking his Lion into a full stop. “But we literally just got here. How did they find us?”

The Altean prince leaned over Hunk’s shoulder to study the Galra signatures more closely. Allura’s wormhole had spit them out behind one of the larger chunks of rock in the rings orbiting the gas giant Tefnut. Turns out, Khonsu, the ‘planet’ the Blue Lion had been hidden on, wasn’t a planet at all. It was actually one of the gas giant’s moons. From the looks of it, Khonsu was one of the planet’s two shepherd moons orbiting within Tefnut’s rings. It was entirely possible that Khonsu had once been its own, independent rocky planet. But as Tefnut migrated closer to its star, it snagged Khonsu in its gravitational pull and the smaller planet’s fate had been sealed.

Khonsu was a water world with ice caps at each of the two poles as the only solid land visible from their scanning range. Why would the Galra be here? This wasn’t a major hub or trade route, at least it wasn’t 10,000 years ago. Granted, Lance’s knowledge was a bit dated, but still. The Galra had no obvious reason to be in this system; unless they too had found the Blue Lion. Lance cursed under his breath. This was not turning out to be his lucky day.

“Hunk,” he said, catching the Yellow paladin’s attention. “You said when you first found the Yellow Lion, the Galra saw you.”

“Uh, yeah?” Hunk replied, confused by the line of questioning. “They chased us down until a wormhole opened for us to escape to your castle.”

“Then it’s safe to assume the Galra know the Yellow Lion’s been found,” Lance muttered, nibbling his lip as his mind raced. “Right. I need you to create a distraction for me.”

“Wait, what?” Hunk cried. “Are you crazy?” He turned in his pilot chair to face the prince fully. “We’re both in this together.  Literally. We are literally in the same giant-alien-robot-cat head right now. How would a distraction by me do anything to keep them from noticing you? Like, for real.”

“If you can get me close enough to Khonsu’s atmosphere, I can do a space jump to the Blue Lion’s last known coordinates,” Lance said, already logging the Lion’s rough location into his arm band. “All I have to do is sync this up with my jumper, and I should be able to handle it from there.”

Hunk blinked. “Tell you don’t mean what I think you mean,” he said flatly.

“Can’t do that cause I’m not a telepath,” Lance said with a cheeky grin. “Besides, the Yellow Lion is the most heavily armored of the pride,” he explained. “It can take some serious impacts before experiencing any real damage.”

Hunk continued to give the prince a flat stare until Lance had no choice but to sigh.

“Look,” he said, “the Galra are here. There’s no reason for them to be here unless they’ve already narrowed down the Blue Lion’s location to this moon. I’m betting they haven’t found the Lion’s exact location yet, but it’s only a matter of time. We can’t let any of the Lions fall into the Galra’s hands.”

“Alright, that aside,” Hunk said, waving absently, “you’re going to space jump? As in jump out of Yellow and what, just free fall to the moon’s surface?” He shook his head. “Dude, you do realize there’s such a thing as atmospheric friction, right? It can literally burn spaceships to dust. Not to mention the G-forces you’ll experience _and_ the gravity. How do you plan on fighting gravity without going splat?”

Lance rolled his eyes, unimpressed by Hunk’s dramatic clap, emphasizing the word ‘splat.’

“Well, for starters, I won’t be going ‘splat,’” Lance said, using finger quotes over the word. “It’ll be more like ‘splash,’ seeing as the moon’s covered almost entirely by an ocean.” Hunk groaned and Lance chuckled. “Besides,” the prince added, “jumpers have a built in shield that protects the person jumping from the atmospheric effects, and a mild inertial dampener which will help with the abrupt changes in speed and direction. The shield also allows the jumper to be used underwater, for a while at least. My suit will provide me with enough air for about one full turn or so. As for the G-force thing…” He trailed off, scratching his head in confusion. “I’m honestly not sure what that means.”

Hunk heaved a heavy sigh and slumped in his chair. “Okay, fine,” he said. “You seem to have thought this through.”

“Well yes,” Lance agreed, puffing his chest out proudly. “I do have a bit of experience with planning, you know.”

“No, I don’t know,” Hunk said, taking hold of the Yellow Lion’s controls once more. “I’m not the best pilot, but I’ll give you cover for as long as I can.”

“Try sticking close to the planet,” Lance offered. “The rings and the top layer of gas clouds as well as the planet’s magnetic field should make the Galra’s systems have a tougher time working properly.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Hunk maneuvered his Lion out from behind the rocky debris they had been hidden behind and immediately dove under the rings. The Galra ships hovered a few miles above the rings closest to Khonsu. Interestingly enough, it looked like the Galra were attempting to scan Tefnut and not the watery moon. Maybe the Galra didn’t know the Blue Lion’s location after all. Still, they were too close for Lance’s liking.

Lance straightened and made his way to the back of the Yellow Lion’s storage compartment behind the cockpit. He slipped on his helmet and made sure it sealed in place before taking hold of his jumper. Despite being 10,000 years old, the metal had somehow withstood the test of time. Now it would have to stand the test of nature.

The jumper was a long metal contraption that was wider at the base before tapering off to a rounded tip at the top. Handlebars lined either side of the device and footholds were situated at the back. Lance synced the coordinates in his armband with the jumper’s computer system and breathed a sigh of relief when it activated. The blue light flickered, ready for his command.

“Get me in as close to as you can,” he ordered. “You might feel a breeze when I make the jump but don’t stick around to watch unless you have to.”

“I’m not leaving you alone out there, man,” Hunk said curtly. “Bros don’t do that.”

Lance shot the yellow paladin a genuine smile. “Thanks,” he said. “I mean it. But I’m also ordering you to leave if the Galra begin to overpower you. It’s a lot easier to capture a huge Lion than it is to capture a single Altean on a jumper; especially once I get into the ocean. Water plays hell with Galra equipment. Or at least,” he added thoughtfully, “it did last I checked.”

“Water is very rarely a good combination with technology in general,” Hunk said. “Electricity and water are a deadly combination on a fairly reliable basis.”

“Huh. Wouldn’t know,” Lance said with a shrug.

“I should think not. You’re alive after all.”

“But am I?”

Hunk paused. “Wait, what? Lance?” he asked, glancing hesitantly over his shoulder at the prince. “What do you mean by that? You _are_ alive, right?”

Lance just smiled.

“Lance?”

“Hold your breath,” the prince called.

“Lance!”

There was a thud followed by a rush of air and noise, then abrupt silence and stillness. Lance was gone. He had been standing by the exit door one second then gone the next. Almost like a ghost. Hunk gulped.

A beeping yanked attention back to his main view screen, where he noticed a blinking blue signal rushing away from his Lion towards Khonsu’s surface. Lance must have space jumped.

“Ugh, crazy idiot,” Hunk grumbled, sulking in his chair.

He watched as the Altean sped through space and into the moon’s upper atmosphere. The particles of the atmosphere around Lance began to glow as the friction created by the prince’s entry heated them up. It didn’t take long before the prince was no longer visible by the naked eye but the tail of burning, glowing particles trailed behind him the deeper into the moon’s atmosphere he dove. Hunk had to magnify the image to still have a view of the prince’s speeding form. It looked like Lance had become a mini shooting star.

A loud, urgent alarm accompanied by a deluge of red symbols appearing on his view screen jolted Hunk out of his reverie. It seemed Lance’s space jump hadn’t been missed by the Galra scanners. The smaller red symbols must be the fighters zipping away from the larger battlecruiser to the Altean prince’s small, unprotected form currently zipping down into Khonsu’s atmosphere.

“Damn!” he cursed, taking hold of his Lion’s controls. “I hope this isn’t as stupid as I think it is.”

He pushed the control rods forward and felt his Lion burst out from behind the large chunk of rock in the ring debris and sped towards the Galra fighters. Hunk had no live combat experience whatsoever, but he knew how he handled bullies at the Garrison when they picked on him and Pidge. He didn’t have to do much, just walk right into them. He knew he was heavy, but it wasn’t all fat. He knew how to handle himself.

A deep rumbling purr vibrated his mind and he felt a surge of confidence from Yellow. His Lion knew they could do it; better yet, his Lion _wanted_ to do it.

“Alright,” Hunk sighed. “Let’s do this.”

He heard Yellow roar enthusiastically and together they flew down towards the Galra fighter ships. The Yellow Lion dwarfed the smaller ships by a large margin. It was also heavily armored.

“Time to test this thing,” Hunk muttered.

Yellow’s jaws opened and clamped down hard on the nearest fighter’s craft and slammed into four others in quick succession. He felt his Lion shudder as a few blasts impacted its side. Yellow flicked its tail, opened its mouth and fired a burst of energy at the main Galra ship, damaging its hull. Flames burst from the damaged side but the battlecruiser continued to fire. Hunk dodged, trusting in his Lion’s instincts and focused on crushing the fighters he could reach and blasting any that got too close to the prince. 

The blazing trail that had followed Lance during his dive through Khonsu’s atmosphere was gone, leaving behind a smoke trail where he’d been. He must have made it into the lower atmosphere. Reacting to Hunk’s silent query, Yellow showed Prince Lance’s signal on a map on the left view screen. The main view screen continued to show the Galra fighters so he could accurately chase, blast, and crush them.

“Hunk,” Lance’s voice sounded over the communicator startling the pilot.

“Lance?!” Hunk gasped, rearing back and slinging a Galra fighter from Yellow’s jaws into another.  “How? Are you alright?”

“I’m through the upper atmosphere,” Lance said. The wind rushing past Lance’s face muffled the prince’s voice in the microphone making it slightly difficult to understand him. “I think I have a tail.”

Hunk took a quick glance at the left view screen and, sure enough, two Galra fighters had somehow gotten past his one-man blockade and were currently chasing Lance. The prince’s signal was swerving from side to side in a pattern that indicated he was being shot at.

“I’m going to need some cover fire down here,” Lance called.

Hunk abandoned his space battle and made his way down into Khonsu’s atmosphere. His Lion shuddered as he made his entry.  Lance was still far below. Firing at the Galra fighters was risky with the prince’s small form darting back and forth, avoiding enemy attacks. He was good, but his jumper caught a glancing blow from one of the purple energy beams. The shield surrounding the jumper and Lance protected them from the full force of the blow, but it wasn’t strong enough to absorb the resulting momentum which succeeded in knocking him off course.

Lance managed to recover his balance just as Hunk got close enough to safely fire at the Galra.  The Yellow Lion blasted the first fighter and smashed the other in the ocean below with an enormous paw.

“Thanks for that,” Lance called.  “Almost lost my hold there.  You should- Hunk, WATCH OUT!”

Hunk didn’t know what Lance saw, but he dodged to the right just as a much larger, more powerful beam of purple energy blazed directly where the Yellow Lion had been. Unfortunately, by moving out of the way, Hunk accidentally left Lance exposed.  The young Altean prince’s jumper shield was strong enough to take a few direct hits from the smaller fighters, but not direct shots from a fully powered Galra battlecruiser. Hunk watched helplessly as the purple beam pierced through the jumper’s particle shield with deadly ease and accuracy. 

“LANCE!” he screamed.

For a frightening few seconds after the explosion, there was no sign of Lance. Hunk held his breathe and scanned the ocean's deceptively calm surface for any signs of his new alien friend. Metal debris floated on the waves while the lighter debris fluttered down to splash into the water.

Finally, Lance's head and arms broke through the surface and he began treading water. 

"Lance-"

"I'm fine," Lance called back over the sputtering communicator. "I'll probably have a few bruises but I'm fine. Watch that ion cannon. It'll blow even one of the Lions out of the sky."

"Good to know," Hunk said, turning his Lion to stare back up at the descending Galra battlecruiser.

"Hunk, listen to me," Lance said seriously. "If my sister opens a wormhole, go through it."

"What?!" Hunk cried. "No. No way, man. Friends don't leave friends behind."

"Listen to me!" Lance snapped. "The Yellow Lion _cannot_ be captured by the Galra. I'll stay here and keep looking for the Blue Lion."

"No, no, no. I am not leaving you behind, bro," Hunk insisted, forcing his Lion to turn around and charge the battlecruiser directly.

"Hunk stop!" Lance cried, flailing in the water. "Stop!"

"I'm not leaving without you Lance," Hunk said fiercely.

The battlecruiser's biggest gun, which Hunk assumed was the ion cannon the prince referred to, began to glow as it powered up for another shot. Hunk was not about to let that happen. He activated his Lion’s propulsion systems and flew directly at the gun.

_“Hunk!”_

Hunk ignored his friend’s pleading cry and braced for impact. When he hit, there was a flash of something that glowed a translucent purple in an interlocking scale pattern before he was flung back out into the air.  Damn it! The cannon had a shield around it. He clung to his controls and fought to keep his eyes open and the contents of his stomach _in_ his stomach where they belonged. He recovered control of his Lion just in time to see the cannon swivel and take aim at him. He pushed his Lion’s engines to the maximum output to try to get out of the way. 

He felt more than heard the mental roar of pain from his Lion when the heat of the ion cannon burned Yellow’s exterior armor.  It’s wasn’t serious, thank Pele, but it would need to be seen too soon. It was then that he realized he could still hear Lance screaming at him through his comm unit.

“Hunk!” Lance yelled. “For the Lion’s sake, answer me. Get out of here!”

“I told you, I can’t do that,” Hunk replied. “You’re my friend.  Friends don’t leave friends behind.”

“I’ll be fine,” Lance insisted urgently. “I have a full tock's worth of air in my system. I can stay underwater looking for the Blue Lion. When I find it, I’ll catch up to you.”

“No idea what a 'tock' is, but it's not good enough.”

“Hunk _please!_  Don't make me lose you too!"

 _“Paladins,”_ Allura’s voice interrupted calmly.

Hunk looked up and saw an open wormhole hovering in the sky not too far above him.

“Allura, I’m staying behind to get Blue,” Lance called.

“Like _hell_ you are,” Hunk snapped furiously. 

 _“What’s going on?”_ the princess demanded, suddenly sounding alert and wary.

“It’s the Galra,” the Yellow paladin replied. “They were here when we got here. They shot Lance out of the sky.”

_“What?! Lance!”_

“I’m fine, Allura,” Lance said quickly, trying to calm his sister down. “I’m in the water. I’ll find Blue. Just give me some time.”

 _“Shiro and Pidge haven’t returned yet,”_ Allura said worriedly. _“I’ll send them to join you.”_

“No,” Lance said, cutting her off.  “I have enough air to last me a tock. The Yellow Lion’s been damaged. I’ll be fine. I'll find the Blue Lion and come join you as soon as I can. Or better yet, regroup and come get me with the Green Lion later.”

 _“I…”_ Allura paused, clearly debating her options and not liking either result.

“Allura please trust me,” Lance begged. “Hunk go through.”

“But-”

“Go through now or you'll get blasted by the ion cannon!”

Hunk turned back to the Galra battlecruiser and felt his stomach knot with fear when he saw the ion cannon powering up once more. He grit his teeth.

 _“I can’t hold the wormhole connection open for much longer,”_ Allura said frantically.

“Go on, Hunk,” Lance said quickly.  “If I don’t contact you from Blue within a tock, come back with Pidge and the Castle and get me.”

“I- I can’t-”

“The Yellow Lion can’t be captured, Hunk.  _GO NOW!”_

“You better be here when I get back, jerk,” Hunk cried, biting back his tears as he piloted his Lion through the wormhole.

Lance breathed a sigh of relief when the wormhole sealed shut after the Yellow Lion went through. He activated his air system and dove underwater. He didn’t have his jumper anymore so searching for Blue would be slow going but, he could still swim.

Wait, why was he moving up?

His eyes widened when his body broke through the ocean’s shining blue surface. What the quiznak?  He continued to float up into the air. This can’t be right. He looked up and recognized the tell-tale purple light of a Galra tractor beam. Terrified, he flailed and struggled to escape the beam’s pull. But he was literally suspended in the air with the shattered pieces of his jumper with nothing to grab onto or gain leverage from. Nothing.

A Galra fighter flew into the tractor beam directly beneath him and opened its hatch.

“Quiznak,” he cursed ticks before the tractor beam’s light vanished and he was in free fall.

He landed on his back in a dark room staring up at the gas giant Tefnut hovering high in Khonsu’s sky knocking the wind out of him.  He gasped as his muscles seized, unable to breathe. His awareness faded as the hatch slid shut, sealing him in darkness.


	5. Cool Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk reports in, Shiro and Pidge get bad news, and Lance gets bad news and an interesting guard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Better late then never. FYI, I chose _Stadig_ as the name of the sloth-like alien because it's the word for "slow" in Afrikaans (at least according to Google).
> 
> Also, I admit, I Googled some insults often tossed at Elves/Elf-like characters/races by RPG players and the like. My favorite by far is "pointy eared berry munchers." Needless to say, I couldn't resist using it in here. XD

The moment the Yellow Lion emerged from the wormhole, Allura closed it. Her heart ached with the thought of her brother alone on that planet with the Galra even _near_ him, but she had a job to do.

“Hunk,” she called in her microphone. “Are you alright?”

“ _I’m fine,_ ” came the frazzled pilot’s reply. “ _My Lion’s going to need to be checked out, but it doesn’t seem too bad. Princess, Lance-_ ”

“I know, Hunk,” Allura said, biting her lip as her heart pounded in her chest. “I know. Get your Lion back to its hangar while I check on Pidge and Shiro. Hopefully, they’ve found the Green Lion by now.”

“ _And if they haven’t?_ ”

The princess winced. “Then I may send you to help them search,” she said. “Coran and I have been busy all day repairing the Castle’s particle barrier in case we come under attack.”

“ _You mean if the Galra find us,_ ” Hunk said grimly.

“Well considering if the Galra _do_ find us, we _would_ be under attack,” Coran said offhandedly, “I think both points are the same. Don’t you?”

“ _Touché_ ,” Hunk grumbled.

“We’ll give my brother a full tock to find the Blue Lion and contact us,” the princess said, stepping down from her pedestal and walked over to one of the side panels where Coran was still typing away furiously. She activated a smaller version of the star map on the view screen and studied it closely. “If he doesn’t contact us by then, then we’ll go to him.”

“I’m not sure we can get the Castle ready for launch by then,” Coran said in a worried tone.

“ _Wait, wait, wait. Launch?_ ” Hunk repeated. “ _As in blast off? Get airborne? Fly? What? What the-? You know what? No. I’ll deal with that later. Where are Pidge and Shiro?_ ”

“Still on the other planet retrieving the Green Lion,” Allura said. “I was going to check up on them next but…”

“ _Do it,_ ” Hunk ordered through the communicator. “ _I just parked my Lion. I’m coming up to the bridge now. I’m going to need Pidge’s help repairing my Lion._ ” A minute or so later, there was a hiss as the yellow paladin burst onto the bridge. “I’m not leaving Lance on that moon alone for any longer than necessary," he said loudly.

Allura’s eyes softened as she turned to her paladin. “I do understand,” she said. “He’s my brother. He’s the only blood relation I have left at this point. Don’t think for a moment I plan on leaving him there. I _will_ get him back,” she swore.

“ _We_ will get him back,” Hunk corrected. “He may be your brother, but he’s our friend.” He watched as the princess approached the pedestal once more and said. “You know, back home my country has a branch of the military called the Marines. The Marines have this saying: ‘No man left behind.’” 

Allura and Coran both paused to listen to the yellow paladin speak.

“I may not be a Marine,” Hunk said. “Not by any means. But I follow that mantra. Never leave a friend behind. Lance is my friend.” He grinned. “We’re bros now.”

“Bros? What, you mean like brothers?” Coran asked.

“Yeah, only you typically aren’t related,” Hunk explained. “It’s like a best friend.”

Allura smiled and placed her hands on the two control towers that rose to about her waist from the pedestal’s base. “I’m glad,” she murmured, a soft smile on her face as she activated a wormhole. “But first, Shiro? Pidge? Can you hear me?” she called in a louder voice.

“ _Loud and clear princess_ ,” Shiro replied.

“Have you located the Green Lion yet?”

“ _No_ ,” Shiro replied. “ _But I think we’re close. Long story but we met this big sloth alien who’s giving us a ride on his canoe to where we hope the Lion is_.”

“Ah, a Stadig. I’m glad they still live. They’re a gentle, honest species,” the princess said happily. “You can trust them Shiro. They are peaceful by nature.”

“ _Tolerant too_ ,” Shiro added with a cheerful chuckle. “ _Pidge has been rambling for the past few minutes but the Stadig just listens and shrugs_.”

“That sounds like Pidge alright,” Hunk said. “He tends to ramble when he gets nervous.”

“ _Hunk?_ ” Shiro asked in surprise.  “ _You’re back? Did you and Lance find the Blue Lion already?_ ”

“ _What?!”_ Pidge’s voice sounded over the speakers. “ _No fair. I wanted to find my Lion first._ ”

“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Hunk said with a nervous glance at the princess whose brow was furrowed in worry.

“Hunk had to leave Lance behind on the planet-” Coran began.

“Moon,” Hunk said suddenly.

“I beg your pardon?” Coran said, turning to the yellow paladin in confusion.

“It’s a moon,” Hunk clarified. “It was probably snagged by the gas giant’s gravity field sometime over the past 10,000 years but it’s a moon now.”

“Really?” Coran said thoughtfully, twirling his mustache as his eye sparkled. “Interesting. I should like to see tha-”

“ _Can we get back to the part about Hunk leaving the prince alone on a moon?_ ” Pidge said urgently. It sounded like he was yelling to be heard by Shiro’s microphone.

“Oh yes,” Coran. “Right. Hunk had to leave Prince Lance on Khonsu to retrieve the Blue Lion on his own.”

“ _Why?_ ” Shiro asked suspiciously.

“Well,” Hunk said hesitantly, “you see…”

“The Galra were there,” Princess Allura said, her voice overpowering Hunk’s. “My brother ordered Hunk to return to the Castle when the Yellow Lion was damaged.”

“ _Damaged?_ ” Pidge exclaimed. “ _What the hell? How the quiznak did that happen?_ ”

“The Galra had this monster cannon that blasted Lance’s jumper to smithereens,” Hunk said, demonstrating the event with his hands even though he knew Shiro and Pidge couldn’t see him.

“That’s probably the ion cannon,” Coran said, typing something into the panel in front of him and pulled up a set of schematics for a weapon. “Our information is 10,000 periods out of date, but I’m willing to bet the basic premise of the weapon should be similar.”

“ _That still leaves the fact you left the prince **alone** with the Galra_ ,” Pidge insisted. “ _What if they captured him? What if they torture him? What if they find the Blue Lion?_ ”

“He ordered me,” Hunk said defensively. “He said it was more important that my Lion not get captured.”

“And he was absolutely right about that,” Coran chimed in. “If the Galra get their hands on the Lions, it could spell imminent disaster.”

“What Coran said,” Hunk said quickly. “Besides, he was searching for the Lion underwater.”

“We’re giving him a full tock to look on his own before sending backup,” the princess said. “I know my brother. Even if he did get captured, he can stand up to torture. He’s a lot stronger than he looks. He wasn’t named the Sentinel for anything.”

“ _What’s a tock?_ ” Pidge asked stilled.

“ _What is a Sentinel?_ ” Shiro asked. “ _Is that the equivalent of a Commander in Chief?_ ”

“I suppose you could say that,” Allura replied. “It’s the highest title given to a person for a specific set of skills. Concentrate on finding the Green Lion quickly. I trust my brother but I don’t trust the Galra. During the Great War, the Galra’s technology was limited when water was involved. I fear this weakness may have been overcome during the time we’ve been asleep.”

* * *

 

When he came to, he was on a cold metal floor. Well, he was half on a cold metal floor. His upper body was being held up in the air by a painful grip on his hair. Tears brimmed in his eyes from each pinprick of pain as individual hairs were yanked out of his scalp, stinging his senses. He gasped involuntarily when the grip suddenly tightened.

“We found him in the ocean of Khonsu,” someone said.

_“Is that so?”_

Lance froze. That voice… He would recognize that voice anywhere. He grew up hearing it in the Castle of Lions, mixing with the voices of the other paladins.  He had learned to despise that voice when its owner betrayed the other paladins and destroyed the peace that had settled across the universe. But it had been 10,000 periods. That voice… It should be dead.

Terrified of what, or more specifically _who_ he might see, Lance opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn’t. It couldn’t be. 

“Zarkon,” he whispered. His breath left him with that single word, the name of the betrayer. 

The image of the Emperor of the Galra Empire, who _should be dead,_ grinned. The main view screen on the bridge of the Galra ship where Lance currently found himself was filled with Zarkon’s memorable, disgusting face. A dark, rumbling chuckle reverberated through the speakers from the view screen holding a dead man’s image. 

 _“Well, well,”_ the hated voice purred. _“When I received word of the Yellow Lion’s sighting, I wondered if the Castle of Lions had been revived. It seems I was right. Tell me, Sentinel of the Castle, where is your dear sister? I assume she has returned with you.”_

Allura. Lance was petrified. What if Zarkon knew about Allura’s connection to the Lions? King Alfor had connected the Lions to the princess’s life force, but only _after_ the Great War had begun.  The few paladins who were still alive when Lance was placed in stasis knew the moment this happened. There was no reason to assume Zarkon was an exception; even if the Black Lion had rejected him beforehand and he was no longer an active paladin by that point. 

But what if Zarkon didn’t know _who_ the Lions were connected to?

The Altean prince swallowed past his debilitating fear and felt a tear slide down his face from the pain in his scalp. It hadn’t been deliberate but Zarkon noticed.

 _“I see,”_ the Emperor said. _“I find it hard to believe Alfor would only save one child and abandon the other. What happened to her? I remember you were both quite close.”_

“Don’t act like you care,” Lance hissed. He gritted his teeth when the grip on his hair twisted and jerked his body back and the coldness of a blade brushed his bared throat.

 _“I don’t,”_ the emperor stated simply, as if he was holding a pleasant conversation and not an interrogation. _“But given the activation of at least one Lion, your presence here, and the reports of a wormhole through which the Yellow Lion escaped, I find myself wondering who else was revived with you.”_

Lance bit his tongue hard, swallowing carefully when he felt the blade against his throat press harder.

“Answer the Emperor, you pointy-eared berry muncher!” the Galra holding him commanded. The Galra lifted his knife from Lance’s throat just long enough to deliver a sharp jab in the prince’s gut from his armored knee before yanking him back up and replacing the knife. This time, Lance felt the blade nick his skin.

Lance coughed and struggled to find enough air to breathe let alone give a verbal reply. Eh, screw the verbal reply. He hacked and spit at Zarkon’s image. It couldn’t land on the Galra bastard’s face like the prince would have preferred, but it felt good and got the point across.  Even if the resulting punishment didn’t feel too good, it was still absolutely worth it.

The Galra guard struck the prince across the face with enough force to daze him. Lance crumbled to the ground dizzy and disoriented.  He could feel his face around his right eye ache. He could probably expect his eye to swell shut later on. Assuming he lived that long, that is.

_“Wait.”_

Zarkon’s sharp command confused Lance. Wait? Wait for what? He groaned and rolled over onto his side and noticed something gleam above him. He glanced at the gleam and his eyes widened. A very large, undoubtedly sharp blade was very close to his face. Zarkon’s command hadn’t been for Lance.  It had been for the Galra soldier.  Apparently, Zarkon didn’t want the prince dead, yet. That thought was both a relief as well as disturbing.

 _“The Lions are tied to the life force of Alfor’s heir,”_ Zarkon said.  _“This much I know from the previous blue paladin’s time here.”_

Lance grimaced. He had been forced into stasis before the end of the Great War so he didn’t get to see its finale. Nor had he ever found out the ultimate fate of the previous paladins. It appeared Tayla, the blue paladin, had met a less than graceful death at the hands of the Galra. Lance could only pray her death had been quick. Although, he sincerely doubted his prayers had been answered.

 _“If the princess is indeed dead,”_ Zarkon continued calmly, _“and the Lions are still functioning normally, then it would appear the Sentinel was chosen as the Heir Apparent.”_

He doesn’t know, Lance realized. He really doesn’t know.

_“If the Lions are tied to the Sentinel’s life force, then killing him would be…detrimental.”_

_Oh quiznak,_ Lance felt his heart pound in his chest. At least this way Allura would be safe for a while.

 _“Keep him in a cell for the time being,”_ the Emperor ordered the Galra soldier.

The prince stiffened.

“My lord, what of the Yellow Lion?” the Galra asked respectfully. 

Zarkon hummed. _“If you can find it, capture it and bring it to me as well. Your main priority is bringing the Sentinel to me alive and otherwise unharmed. If the Lions are tied to his life force, then he could prove useful.”_

The Galra knelt. “As you wish. If you would permit, I have one more question.”

_“What is it?”_

“Our long-range sensors have detected a new power source on a planet not far off our course, my lord,” the Galra said. “It’s signature is similar to that of the Yellow Lion.”

 _“That could be the Castle of Lions,”_ Zarkon said, interest coloring his deep voice. 

Lance shuddered. Allura. Coran. Hunk. Shiro. Pidge.

The Galra must have detected Allura testing the Castle’s systems to figure out which ones needed maintenance and which didn’t. Lance vaguely remembered Coran testing out the Castle’s long-range sensors. They must need work if the Galra detected the Castle’s signal but the Castle didn’t detect the Galra. Good to know for later.

Still, it was too soon. Lance remembered studying the results of the Castle-wide systems diagnostic. There was no way the Castle would be ready to leave yet. They would be easy target practice.

 _“Look into it, but do not dwell on it for long,”_ the emperor ordered. _“I want the prince here, Sendak.”_ Zarkon’s voice rumbled with pleasure. _“Show him the best of Galra hospitality.”_

“Vrepit sa,” the Galra soldier, Sendak, said, kneeling in fealty before his lord.

Without another word, the transmission ended and Zarkon’s deplorable image vanished from the Galra ship’s main view screen. Stars and the looming presence of the gas giant Tefnut filled the screen in Zarkon’s place. The dark, swirling mass of gaseous clouds glowed eerily as the enormous planet eclipsed its parent system’s star.

That would be the last glimpse of space Lance would have for a while.

The cell he soon found himself in wasn’t small, but it wasn’t large either. There was a cot, thankfully. Sendak seemed to take his emperor’s wish for hospitality to heart. The prince stood in the corner of his cell, opposite the cot, and glared at the solid metal door separating him from freedom. This was never supposed to happen. It could have been much worse, granted. But it would have been better if it had never happened in the first place.

Some Sentinel he turned out to be. Without a weapon, he was useless. He was meant to protect the Castle of Lions, to protect the Lions, to protect his _sister_ no matter the cost. That was his duty. Sentinel, the watcher, the guard, the protector. When his father had thrown him into the stasis pod, King Alfor had silently been commanding Lance to watch, guard, and protect Allura at all costs. It was a duty Lance intended to see through to the end.

But there was a small part of him that couldn’t help but feel jealous. Allura was the older sibling. She had always been their father’s daughter in every way while Lance had been their mother’s son. As such, their duties and life experiences had been different despite how much time they had spent together. Neither was better nor worse than the other. They were just different.

Lance loved Allura. He loved his father. But he wanted to live. He wanted to be free. He wanted…

To fly.

He was distracted from his dark thoughts by the heavy metal door sliding open. The prince looked up and was caught off guard by the Galra who stood there holding a mechanical syringe in one hand and a bottle of liquid in the other. The needle should have held more of Lance’s attention, but that honor was currently held by the Galra soldier himself.

Instead of the unique, solid gold eyes typical of the Galra species, this Galra had deep violet irises and black pupils that were focused solely on Lance. The Galra’s skin was not as furry as most Galra males and his skin was a slightly lighter tone of purple as well. His ears were also covered in a layer of fine, dark purple, almost black fur that appeared soft. The tips of the Galra's ears were tufted and twitched slightly with every sound. He was also shorter than most of the average adult Galra Lance had ever seen.

The soldier was a halfbreed.

“You’re the Altean,” the Galra halfbreed said mildly.

The Galra halfbreed seemed entirely uninterested in the whole affair almost to the point of apathy. This interested the Altean prince greatly. Plus, who was he to turn down an opportunity to tease?

“I could be,” Lance said, crossing his arms and leaning back against his cell’s wall. “But then again,” he added after a second, using the time to concentrate on shifting, “I could be a Galra.”

Lance didn’t bother to fight back the smirk when the halfbreed started. The poor Galra probably had not been told about the Altean ability to shapeshift. It didn’t take much effort. Lance had only changed his skin tone, eye color, and added fur to his ears; nothing overly complicated. But it certainly seemed to have had an effect on the halfbreed.

It took a moment for the halfbreed soldier to shake himself out of his surprise. His unusual violet eyes narrowed. “I’ve been assigned to you for the duration of the trip,” he said.

Lance chuckled. “You say that like you’re my servant or something,” he teased.

The halfbreed bristled, his hackles rising at the implied insult. “I am _no one’s_ servant,” he snapped viciously.

“Really?” Lance asked innocently. “Then I’m confused. If you’re not my servant, then what do you mean by ‘assigned’ to me?”

The halfbreed almost went for the bait. He clearly wanted to. He was practically vibrating with the desire to pounce. It reminded the prince of something his father used to speak about. As the Sentinel, Lance had been schooled in the different social practices, ethics, morals, and cultures of a variety of species in order to protect his sister, the diplomat, should the need arise. One lesson in particular came to mind now.

The Galra were separated into three main classes as far as sexuality was concerned: Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Gender had nothing to do with the sexual designation. It was a genetic trait that affected the body’s hormones and pheromones in certain ways resulting in any Galra falling into one of the three categories.

Alphas tended to be leaders, relied mostly on instinct, and were known for their possessiveness. Betas were less aggressive in nature than Alphas but were just as readily chosen for leadership positions. Omegas were the only one of the three classes that experienced heats: cyclical periods of fertility and infertility that varied from Omega to Omega. All three classes tended to be possessive of their mates, but Alphas were the worst. If an Alpha’s mate died, they would often fall into a state of rage and destroy anything and everything until death finally came to them.

The Galra were purists when it came to their species. It was no secret that halfbreeds were not treated very well. Nevertheless, Lance doubted bribery would work on the halfbreed. The Galra were notoriously loyal to their emperor. But when it came to each other, they were loyal only as long as they had the upper hand. Mates, or prospective mates, however, were treated with a loyalty that was absolute. Very few Galra would choose their emperor over their own mate.

Lance could work with this. He wasn’t afraid of sexuality. He was comfortable with his body, no matter how it appeared on the outside. He could maybe even enjoy this. The only question now was to determine which sexual class this halfbreed fell into to determine how to pull the Galra's strings correctly. Only one way to find out.

“Are you ever going to answer me?” he pressed.

“It’s none of your business,” the halfbreed said coldly.

Lance shrugged. “Too embarrassed to say then.”

“Like hell I am,” the Galra hissed.

“Then why the needle?” the prince asked with a dark grin. “Didn’t think you could handle me without knocking me out first?”

He had been expecting a reaction, but he hadn’t expected dull nails digging into his throat as his back slammed against the cell wall. Lance gasped and glared at the halfbreed who now stood very much in his personal space.

“Hardly,” the Galra said. “You’re not too hard to subdue.”

He wasn’t sure what made him do it. Call it intuition, suspicion, or simple curiosity. But something in that moment made Lance tilt his neck up and to the side, baring his jugular to his captor in a sign of submission. His eyes never left the halfbreed’s violet irises.

Thus, he didn’t miss the not-so-subtle widening of the halfbreed’s eyes or the flaring of his nostrils or the way his ears instantly flipped forwards, twitching excitedly. Alpha then.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said softly, gratified to see the halfbreed’s eyes skip from his bared neck to meet his own. Lance resumed his natural Altean skin with a sigh. “I didn’t mean to push you. I’m Lance.”

The halfbreed seemed flummoxed by the sudden shift in his position of power. Clearly he wasn’t used to people submitting to him even though he was an Alpha. Intriguing.

“What should I call you?” Lance asked, keeping his head tilted back neck bare.

The halfbreed swallowed before answering. “Keithek.”

The Altean prince smiled. “Eh, too long. I prefer Keith,” he said simply.

The fire returned to the halfbreed’s -Keith’s- eyes and Lance grinned.

He could definitely work with this.


	6. Tepid Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Green Lion is found, Hunk disapproves of Allura's new friends, and Lances tests Keith's interest, for science of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Yes, I did make juniberries drug berries. Think plants that can be made into a drink or snack that is known to cause states of euphoria, heightens senses, and is often used as an aphrodisiac.

_"We found the Green Lion!”_ Pidge’s voice shouted.

Hunk winced as his teammate’s voice echoed within the Castle’s walls. He swore he even heard the speakers vibrate.

“I have the wormhole stable for the moment,” the princess said quickly. Sweat dripped from her brow as she focused all of her concentration on keeping the wormhole open. “But I won’t be able to do so for much longer.”

 _“We’re coming, your highness,”_ Shiro said, his voice much calmer than Pidge’s. _“We should be coming through any minute.”_

“Minute,” Coran muttered. “We really need to compare time keeping patterns.”

Approximately thirty seconds later, a bright green mechanical lion burst through the wormhole. When the Lion left the vicinity of the wormhole and approached the Castle, the princess heaved a heavy sigh and slumped weakly to the floor.

“Princess!” Hunk cried, rushing to catch Allura before she hit the floor.

“Allura!” Coran said, wiping away the sweat from the Altean woman’s face. “Are you alright?”

Allura took several deep breaths before nodding and standing back up with Hunk’s help. “I’m fine,” she said. “Just a headache.” She blinked and tilted her head as if listening to something. “Do you hear that?” she asked.

“Hear what?” Hunk asked.

“It could be the hangar door closing,” Coran said uncertainly. “But we’re a bit too far up to hear it normally.”

But Allura was shaking her head. “No,” she said. “It’s like voices, but not.”

“You mean like how my Lion talks to me?” Hunk asked. He straightened in excitement. “Is it Lance? Do you hear the Blue Lion? Or is it the Red Lion?”

Again, the princess shook her head. “No, that’s not how it works,” she said firmly. “Only the paladins can hear the inner thoughts and emotions of their Lions.”

She pushed away from the yellow paladin’s arms and tilted her head. “I think…” She huffed and gathered up her skirt before running out of the bridge and down the hall.

“Um, princess?” Hunk called.

He chased after Allura with Coran wondering what the heck was going on? This was just a complete and total mess. Yesterday, he was just a cadet in the Galaxy Garrison hoping to one day go to space. In the span of a single night and day, he was now the pilot of a giant, sentient, mechanical robot cat, working with three 10,000-year-old people, one of whom was missing -his fault- kind of, sort of living in an ancient, possibly magical castle in space, fighting purple space Nazis, and now chasing a princess down a hall. By Pele, what did he ever do to deserve this?

When he looked up, he realized they were heading to the healing pod chamber. Oh no, please say there wasn’t _another_ sleeping ancient person to deal with. Hunk wasn’t sure if he could handle another space elf running around.

The door to the chamber slid open and the princess stopped abruptly. Coran barely managed to stop before bumping into Allura, but Hunk couldn’t slow down as quickly. Mass and inertia are a thing, after all. Hunk slammed into Coran, who bumped into Allura, who fell to her hands and knees, grunting on impact.

“Princess, are you alright?” Coran said urgently.

“Um, what just happened?” Hunk asked, rubbing his sore bottom from his own unflattering landing. “Guys?” Hunk asked again when he only heard a faint squeak in reply to his question. “Guys?”

He leaned over Coran’s shoulder and only saw the princess’s back. Both Alteans were staring at something on the floor in front of Allura. “What’s going on? What’cha lookin’ at?” he asked.

He scooted over to get a better look, and promptly shrieked like a little girl.

“Quiznak! What was that for?” Coran exclaimed, placing a hand over his heart as he stared at the yellow paladin in shock.

“Those are mice,” Hunk said from his spot on the other side of the hallway pointing at the four tiny, furry creatures cradled in the princess’s hands. “She’s _holding_ mice.” He stiffened as a horrible realization crept over him. “There are mice in this Castle? Are there rats too? I think I’m going to puke.”

“Why?” Allura asked, her beautiful face open in honest confusion. “They’re so cute.” They lifted the mice in her cupped hands up to her cheek and cuddle them.

“They’re _mice!”_

“They’re adorable,” Allura insisted, placing a kiss on the largest mouse.

Hunk flinched, then he made yet another realization. “It’s green. That mouse is freakin’ _green!_ What is going on? Oh my god, they’re all different colors. Rainbow mice?!”

“Hunk, please calm down,” the princess said with a sigh. “I think you’re overreacting.”

“No, no, no I’m not,” Hunk said, shaking his head wildly. “Mice and rats are disease carriers. They’re dirty, germ-infested, rodents.”

The princess actually looked hurt and held her rodent companions close to her chest protectively. “Hunk,” she whispered.

“That was a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Coran said.

“Um, no. Mice are bad news,” Hunk said.

The princess sniffed. “Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they’re bad,” she said.

“Yeah, well, on my planet, mice helped spread one of the worst plagues in human history,” Hunk said. “Okay, technically it was the fleas unique to _rats,_ not mice exactly, but rats and mice are the same in my book!”

“Then blame the fleas, not the mice,” Allura said, allowing two of the mice, including the big green one, to scamper up to her shoulder.

Hunk stood and crossed his arms in a huff. “Well excuse me for not trusting a creature indirectly responsible for the death of over half of the human population of an entire continent back home. It was a horrible way to die and it still exists on some parts of the world. Do you know what the people of the time called that disease? The Black Death.”

The princess’s face eased when she listened to her paladin explain. Her eyes grew sad and she ran two fingers over the fur of blue mouse still in her hand. A _blue_ mouse. A blue. Freaking. Mouse.

“I understand,” Allura said gently. “I do. But I would like it if you could try to give them a chance.” Her clear blue eyes lifted to Hunk’s. “Please.” Her lips quirked in a smile that reminded the yellow paladin of Lance. It wasn’t a necessarily good feeling. “Especially considering we’re mentally linked,” she added.

“Wait, wha-”

 _“What?!”_ Coran shouted.

Hunk winced. Who knew the old man had such powerful lungs?

The royal advisor stuttered inelegantly. “But- How- What?”

“I- I don’t know,” the princess said. Her head tilted as if listening to something. “Oh. Oh my. That’s…interesting. I’ve never heard of that happening before.”

“Please tell me you’re not talking to a mouse,” Hunk said, feeling a sinking feeling settle in his stomach. He was really getting that feeling a lot over these past couple days.

Allura shot him a wry glance. “This coming from someone who can communicate with a mechanical Lion.” She lifted a stark white eyebrow ironically and Hunk slumped.

“Right,” Hunk admitted reluctantly.

“They said they got frozen in the cryopod with me but they didn’t wake up until after we’d already left the room,” she said. “I think all that time together must have connected our minds somehow.”

Coran hummed. “While I’ve never heard of that happening per se, it is possible.”

“How?” Hunk asked.

“How what?”

The group turned to see Shiro and Pidge walking up to them.

“Sorry it took so long,” Shiro said. “We thought you were on the bridge.”

“We were when-”

“Look!” Allura said, standing and turning to show her new mouse friends. “I have new friends.”

Shiro stopped and stared. Pidge straightened his glasses and fearlessly ran up to the mouse in Allura’s hands. “You have pets?” he asked.

“No, we're mentally linked,” the princess explained gently.

“Woah! Telepathic mice!” Pidge grinned. “That’s so cool.”

“You would,” Hunk grumbled. “Hey Shiro, doesn’t this bother you? Like, at all?”

Shiro just sighed and shrugged. “I’ve seen weirder so no, not really.”

Hunk groaned and Shiro smiled at his friend sympathetically.

“I’m glad you’re all here now,” the princess said suddenly, gaining everyone’s attention. “Now we can focus on getting my brother back.” Her eyes sparkled with stern determination. “We _will_ get him back.”

* * *

 

Lance was lying on the floor because quite frankly it was more comfortable than the cot. He was still a bit surprised there was a cot in his cell at all. In fact, for a cell, this wasn’t too bad. He’d heard stories of worse back during the Great War. The prince suspected the only reason he was given this ‘nice’ cell at all was because Zarkon wanted him alive and unharmed.

Well, Lance thought wryly, unharmed wasn’t necessarily true anymore. His right eye was completely swollen shut and sore, the slice on his neck was scabbing over, and his gut still ached from the unwelcome impact of the Galra Sendak’s knee. He sighed and shifted so his head rested on his bent arms. It stretched his aching stomach muscles, but not badly enough to deal with sleeping with his head on the cold, hard floor. Lance valued comfort. What was a slight inconvenience for comfort’s sake?

Besides, as long as he lay directly on the ground and closed his eyes, he could feel the vibrations of the battlecruiser. Based on what he was feeling, the cruiser wasn’t traveling by a slipstream, which meant they weren’t traveling far or very fast, relatively speaking. In fact, as far as Lance could tell, the cruiser barely left orbit around Khonsu.

If the Galra were planning on investigating the power source Sendak said was similar to the Yellow Lion’s, which Lance sincerely hoped wasn’t the Castle or another Lion, then they didn’t seem to be in a rush to get there. Unless the signal they first received was a burst that was too short to narrow down the exact origin, but long or powerful enough to attract attention. That mean the Galra’s detection systems had been upgraded. Not a surprise considering 10,000 periods had passed. When the prince got out of here, he would have to get Coran to work on masking the Castle’s signal.

That still didn’t explain why, or more importantly _how_ Zarkon was still alive. Had he been placed in a cryopod too?

The metal beat of drone soldiers marching passed Lance’s door rumbled through the floor. It was maddening. There was nothing to do here but be still. It was driving Lance insane. He needed stimulation. He need someone to talk to. He needed something to _do._

More steps approached his door, but these weren’t the sharp metal clunks of drones. They also stopped at his door. Then the door opened. Lance grinned.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Because you came back,” Lance said.

“You had no way of knowing it was me,” Keith said derisively.

Lance just shrugged. “And yet I did,” he said simply.

Keith breathed a heavy sigh through his nose. “Are you always this annoying?” he said. 

It was a rhetorical question but Lance answered anyway because he knew it would bother Keith. “No, usually I’m worse. I haven’t had any juniberry juice yet,” he said with a not-completely-faked sigh of longing.

“Juniberry?” Keith repeated in befuddlement. “What the jurt is that?”

“Jurt?” Lance said, furrowing his eyebrows without opening his eyes. “I’ve never heard that word before.”

“Well, you are an old man,” Keith said.

Lance’s felt the urge to twitch.

“I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of the latest curse words,” the halfbreed continued. “Old people tend to be out of the loop on a lot of current events.”

Those were fighting words. It took all of the prince’s concentration to remain still. He would have his revenge. Keith was walking up to him as he spoke. Just a few more steps and he’d be within reach. Just keep him talking.

“Yeah well,” Lance said. “You young people today have no concept of alcohol either. I bet you’re not even of legal age to drink. Even by Altean standards.”

“I _can too_ drink,” Keith snapped.

“But you’ve never had juniberry juice, so it doesn’t count,” Lance said dismissively. He took a deep breath in through his nose, as if sniffing the air. “I remember it. The scent of juniberries in the crisp evening, the way it burned my throat as it went down, the warmth that followed.” He hummed, listening to Keith come slowly closer.

“I bet you were underage,” Keith said.

“Considering the drinking age on Altea was annulled for the night of the juniberry festival, that hardly mattered much,” Lance said with a smirk. “Quiznak, the party would go all night. I had my first kiss at the festival. Don’t remember who it was, I was too drunk. But by the Lions, it was amazing.”

“You kissed someone?” Keith demanded.

“Why?” Lance asked, finally cracking his one eye open to see the halfbreed standing directly beside him. “Jealous?”

He acted before Keith had a chance to respond. He freed one of his arms and reached out, grabbing the corner of Keith’s uniform and yanking hard. The halfbreed was caught off guard by the sudden move and collapsed onto the floor half on top of Lance, half off. Lance followed Keith’s momentum and rolled them so Keith was pinned underneath him.

He dearly wished he could see the Galra halfbreed’s face clearly, but his swollen right eye prevented that. He did _not,_ however, miss seeing Keith’s face darken to a deep mauve. Whether it was from fury or something else, Lance didn’t bother to find out. Keith’s ears pinned to his head and his violet irised eyes narrowed in what Lance assumed was anger. The halfbreed hissed and used his superior strength to flip their positions so Lance was beneath him.

Lance was limber and flexible, but he was not the strongest warrior out there. He relied on speed and distance attacks more than close combat. He was good at hand-to-hand combat, but he honestly just preferred to shoot the enemy from a distance and get it over with. He knew the instant Keith switched their places that he would not be able to escape, but that didn’t stop him from trying. He had a goal in mind and he would reach it.

Lance struggled in Keith’s hold forcing the halfbreed to press him to the cold floor. “Yield,” Keith commanded fiercely.

“Quiznak yourself,” Lance snapped.

That seemed to do the trick. Keith’s eyes gleamed angrily at the challenge. He placed a knee on the prince’s stomach and grabbed hold of both of Lance’s wrists, pinning the Altean firmly to the floor. He bared his teeth, which weren’t as sharp or as large as a full-blooded Galra’s, and hissed viciously. He put all of his weight on the three points of contact and growled, with all the force of the Alpha he was, “Yield!”

Lance instantly fell still. He held Keith’s gaze with an equal amount of force for a full five ticks; long enough for Keith to growl and dig his nails -those _were_ as sharp as a full-blooded Galra’s apparently- into Lance’s wrists. Only then did the prince tilt his head back to bare his throat in submission.

Lance never looked away from Keith’s face so he saw the moment Keith broke eye contact to stare at Lance’s neck. He saw the surprise register in the halfbreed’s eyes at the submissive action, followed closely by pleasure and pride. But when Keith looked back up to Lance’s eyes, something he saw there made his violet eyes darken in comprehension.

“Why?” he demanded.

“Why what?” Lance asked, keeping his head tilted back.

“Why are you submitting to me?” Keith pressed. “You aren’t an Omega or a Beta. As far as I know, you may not even have those dynamics in your dead society.”

“Dead?” Lance said mildly. “Could a dead person do this?” He rolled his hips and relished the look of complete and utter shock wash over the Alpha's face. “Incidentally,” he added, managing to curl and stretch his middle fingers down to brush Keith’s wrists teasingly, “Alteans don’t have those dynamics. But that doesn’t mean we never found them fascinating, or even,” he licked his lips, “attractive.”

Keith seemed unable to move. Lance could practically see the halfbreed’s mind bog down in confusion from the influx of signals Lance was giving him. It was highly likely very few other Galra, if any, had ever openly or willingly submitted to Keith before even though he was an alpha. Lance was counting on that possibility.

“Attractive?” Keith asked, perhaps a bit more breathless than he meant to be.

“The thought of submitting to someone else?” Lance asked rhetorically. “Trusting them with yourself? Only that person and no one else? Oh yes,” the prince purred, and no, he didn’t miss the way Keith’s throat gulped, “very attractive.”

Keith blinked, attempting to regain his focus. “Are you _trying_ to seduce me?” he asked.

Lance shrugged as best he could from his position. “Is it working?” he asked with a teasing grin.

Surprisingly, Keith actually considered the question before answering. “Why?” he finally asked.

“Why _what?_ Why am I trying to seduce you?” Lance asked. Keith nodded and Lance hummed. “Well,” he said, drawing out the word playfully, “assuming I _am_ trying to seduce you- which I refuse to confirm or deny, by the way- then I could only assume it’s because I find you attractive. Or maybe I just really want to see what’s inside your pants. Or both.”

“My pants?” Keith asked in confusion. “Why… We’re both male. We’re not that different anatomically speaking-”

Lance groaned and let his head thunk to the ground. “Really? Anatomically? _That’s_ where you went with that?”

Keith sat back slightly in annoyance. “Where was I supposed to go?”

Lance closed his one good eye and sighed. “Oh quiznak,” he grumbled. “I can already tell this is going to be interesting.”

“If you don’t have the same sexual dynamics as we do,” Keith said, “then how do you decide who mates with who?”

Seriously, this guy though. So freaking dense.

“Really? You’re asking me a question like that while we’re in this position?” Lance muttered, rolling his eye dramatically. Keith didn’t answer, he just sat there on top of Lance and waited. “Ugh, fine. We’re free about it.”

“It?”

“Sex.” Lance relaxed and settled into a more comfortable position, bending his right leg up comfortably. “We don’t care who has sex with who as long as it's consensual on all sides. We all have bodies, skin, desires, you get the idea. Our sense of touch is one of our strongest senses.”

“You would have sex with someone other than your chosen mates?” Keith snarled.

“No,” Lance said firmly, shaking his head. “Not unless it was mutually agreed upon by all parties involved. Some couldn’t stand the idea of their partner with someone else. I’m like that.”

Keith gave the prince an odd look. “You have a mate?”

“Quiznak no,” Lance said. “But I like to play the field.” He winked. Well, it would have been a wink except he only had one eye at the moment so it was more like a blink.

Keith hissed and sat up suddenly. “You’re a bastard.”

“But I’m a _sexy_ bastard,” Lance said, sitting up slowly. He propped himself up on his forearms and watched the halfbreed move away.

He waited until Keith reached the door before calling, “You never did tell me why you came to visit me.” He grinned. “Admit it, you missed me.”

Keith stilled. “You’re delusional.”

Lance didn’t bother fighting back the chuckle that bubbled in his chest when Keith was gone. Keith was interested. Or at the very least, he was curious. Curiosity was such an interesting thing. Curiosity drove King Alfor to create the Lions and Voltron. Even Keith wasn’t immune to the insatiable pull. Not that Lance was complaining. He had had a very nice view of the halfbreed’s behind and by the Lions, he wanted that.

Maybe he could adjust his escape plan a bit. Escape pods could fit two people easily, after all. Right?


	7. Lukewarm Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith thinks, Haxus is challenged, the Lions return to Khonsu, and Sendak in an insidious bastard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** This chapter is a bit shorter than I prefer, but it felt like it should end where it does. Keith finally gets his chance to shine. I'm seriously tired so I'll edit this tomorrow.

When he heard the quiet chuckle through the door, he was glad he didn’t leave right away like he should have. The prisoner was not like any other prisoner Keithek had ever seen. Most were terrified, submissive, and begged for their lives. Even the infamous Champion had begged in the beginning, or so Keithek had been told. The only interactions Keithek had ever had with the Champion were a handful of times they crossed each other in the hallways on transport cruisers ferrying the Champion from arena to arena.

From what Keithek could remember, the Champion had been cold, distant, and serious. His determination to live and his survival instincts were something even the Galra had grudgingly come to respect.

Keithek felt the faintest sense of jealousy wash over him. The Champion was just a prisoner, but he had the Galra’s respect. He had earned it through hard work and constantly defeating anything and everything the Empire threw at him in the arena. Then he escaped.

It was infuriating. The Champion was not even part Galra, but he had garnered more respect and acceptance from the Galra than Keithek had ever managed. The Galra valued purity in their race. Keithek’s status as a halfbreed all but guaranteed he would never amount to anything more than a low level foot soldier. Especially since Sendak was his current commander.

Keithek was not originally supposed to be on this particular ship. He was assigned to go to the mines on one of the Balmera in the nearest quadrant. But the cruiser he would have taken had two Druids on board. It had taken some effort to convince the officer in charge to allow Keithek to be transferred to this battlecruiser since it was the first one to come along that did not have an active duty Druid on board.

Then the Yellow Lion had appeared on that planet that had only recently been charted, then vanished just as quickly. Sendak had become obsessed with chasing down that Lion based on some children’s tale. Keithek had thought Sendak was losing his mind.

Until the Altean appeared.

Alteans were a long dead species, obliterated by the great Emperor Zarkon nearly 10,000 standard periods ago. Even their mythical home planet had been lost when the star swelled and absorbed the planet into its fiery inferno. Or so the legend goes.

Keithek glanced back at the Altean prisoner’s cell. He knew the Altean was in there. He’d seen him, _spoken_ to him. Hell, Keithek had been the one to capture him with his fighter. That was the only reason why Keithek had been assigned to periodically check on the Altean. Apparently Zarkon wanted him alive and healthy.

Lance.

Keithek felt his stomach flutter uneasily as he remembered the Altean’s name. It was strange to be named after a weapon, and the Altean was certainly a weapon in his own right. He had caught Keithek completely off guard in there. If he’d wanted to, Lance could have disabled him and escaped easily.

But he didn’t.

Why?

Lance hadn’t seemed to be worried about his well-being. In fact, he was almost carefree. He’d also recognized Keithek without opening his eyes- er, eye. Although why Lance insisted on calling him ‘Keith’ instead of his full name was beyond him.

Lance had even gone so far as to _flirt_ and _bare his throat_ to him. The act of blatant submission had caught Keithek off guard, but he wouldn’t deny that it pleased him. For once, someone had submitted to him because they _wanted_ to, not because they felt they had to.

Keithek had expressed as an alpha at puberty but no one had given him a second look. Sendak was also an alpha as were most commanders. Keithek had the same base instincts and tendencies, but because he was a halfbreed, he wasn’t pure. No self-respecting Galra omega or beta had ever considered him as a plausible mate. Many didn’t even bother acknowledging his alpha status. He’d had to fight to be acknowledged for everything in life.

It was the only way he had been able to become a fighter pilot. No Galra had ever been able to match Keithek’s flight records. It had been this skill that had given him the reckless confidence to fly directly into the battlecruiser’s tractor beam and allow himself to get caught in the pull. Thankfully, someone in charge deactivated the tractor beam and the Altean fell straight into Keithek’s fighter. Because of this, the prisoner was placed under Keithek’s care.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the Altean had been different from anything Keithek had ever experienced. For once, someone was challenging Keithek in a way that wasn’t meant to be offensive? In fact, the Altean… Lance. Lance had even submitted to him, fully aware of what he was doing and the possible consequences of his actions. It had been unexpected and, strangely, not unwelcome.

“Soldier!”

Keithek immediately stepped to the right, back to the hallway wall, and saluted with his right fist over his sternum. “Sir.”

“What is the state of the prisoner?”

Jurt, it was Haxus.

“His eye is swollen shut, but otherwise he is recovering,” Keithek replied stiffly.

Haxus hummed. “Accursed berry-addicted pacifist,” he grumbled under his breath.

“Berries sir?” Keithek asked. The Altean had mentioned something about berries when they spoke earlier. Juniberries, if Keithek remembered correctly.

Haxus gave Keithek an odd mix between a look of disbelief and a glare. Then he nodded, as if just understanding something. “That’s right,” he said. “You’re a halfbreed. No reason you would be taught about a formerly extinct species.”

The insult to his heritage was nothing new, so Keithek let it pass. Haxus began walking down the hallway, gesturing with his head for the halfbreed to follow. “The Alteans were a sickeningly pacifistic race,” he explained. “They would change their physical form to please other races, as if they were ashamed of their own race. They also engaged in needless partying that often resulted in obnoxious behavior and sexual promiscuity. The concept of a single mate had no meaning to them. Disgusting,” he said, sneering hatefully.

Keithek listened closely, absorbing the information with interest. “What about the juniberries?”

“Juniberries?” Haxus said, halting in the middle of the hallway to stare at the halfbreed in surprise and open suspicion.

“The prisoner mentioned them when I checked his wounds,” Keithek explained.

“He spoke to you? Willingly?” Haxus said, his arched eyebrows lowering to form a thick, dark line over his cold, golden eyes. “Fascinating. I suppose lower lifeforms would tend to be more sympathetic to others in similar states. Perhaps this can be useful.”

Without another word, Haxus strolled calmly away, likely to report to Commander Sendak. Keithek did his best to control his emotions, but he could not prevent a deep-throated growl from escaping. Haxus must have heard it because he paused and turned back to Keithek revealing his sharp, yellow teeth in a grin and gave a growl of his own.

Instead of backing down as most in Keithek’s position would, the halfbreed bared his own teeth in challenge. That did not sit well with Haxus at all. The battlecruiser’s second-in-command narrowed his eyes and his growl became a snarl. Haxus spun and pounced at the halfbreed.

Keithek anticipated the attack and was ready for it. He ducked and dodged to the right. The rush of air accompanied Haxus’ body as the battlecruiser’s second-in-command dove at where Keithek had stood mere ticks before. But Keithek was no longer there; Haxus had a split-tick to notice the halfbreed on his left before the wind was knocked out of him by a knee in his gut. A fist pounded down on his back, forcing him to the ground.

Furious, Haxus snatched the fabric of the halfbreed’s uniform and dragged him down as well. The two Galra grappled for the advantage. The halfbreed was strong, but he relied on instinct and an on-the-fly defense strategy. This had served him well in flight and would have aided him in hand-to-hand combat with a less trained officer. But Haxus had several years more experience than the rebellious halfbreed. Thus, he had the halfbreed pinned down beneath him quickly.

The halfbreed struggled to get out of Haxus’s hold, but lying on his stomach with the bigger, larger Galra kneeling on his back made his resistance difficult. Haxus grabbed the halfbreed’s flailing right arms and held it firmly against the rebel’s back.

“Yield,” Haxus commanded.

“Make me.”

Haxus roared and clamped his jaws on the back of the halfbreed’s vulnerable neck and held him fast. It only took a few moments before the brat finally stilled, submitting to Haxus' superior power. However, Haxus continued to hold the halfbreed alpha for a full minute after the brat submitted, just because he could. When he finally released the halfbreed, he was pleased to see the bleeding holes in the brat’s neck, forming an almost perfect circle.

“If you ever even _think_ of challenging me again,” Haxus whispered against the halfbreed’s ears, watching them twitch as his breath tickled the fur there. “I’ll kill you.”

The halfbreed shuddered but made no other response. Satisfied, Haxus stood and straightened his uniform before strolling away. He never looked back so he never saw the downright murderous look Keithek shot at his back.

* * *

 

When the Green Lion followed the Yellow Lion through the wormhole, Pidge was amazed. The gas giant was huge in the sky and surrounded by breathtaking rings. Below them was a large expanse of sparkling blue-green water.

“Wow,” Pidge whispered.

“Yeah,” came the reply.

Pidge blushed. He was still getting used to his official paladin suit of armor. The communicator in his helmet was automatically turned on. He had to actively turn it off in order to have a private conversation or talk to himself.

“It’s beautiful,” Shiro agreed from his spot behind Pidge.

And then there was the fact someone was sitting- or actually standing- right behind him in the Green Lion’s cockpit.

“Is the whole moon like this?” Shiro asked curiously.

“Yeah,” Hunk replied over the radio. “There’s ice at the poles, but otherwise yeah, the whole thing’s one big ocean. Cool, huh?”

“Aw, no beaches,” Pidge groaned.

Hunk’s laughter filled the Green Lion’s cockpit. “Yeah, I feel you.”

“Where did you last see the prince?” Shiro asked, his eyes scanning the water’s surface for debris or signs of a body or something.

“Um, I’m not sure exactly,” Hunk admitted. “There aren’t any landmarks, and I was a bit busy trying to fight off the Galra.”

“No one’s blaming you, Hunk,” Shiro said, trying to placate his fellow paladin.

 _“Of course we aren’t,”_ Allura said over the speakers. _“You were following orders and kept the Yellow Lion from falling into the Galra’s hands.”_

“I know, but Lance-”

 _“Hunk,”_ Allura said gently, _“please. No one is blaming you but yourself. Help us find my brother and the Blue Lion.”_

 _“I’m just sorry we can’t come help you yet,”_ Coran added. _“We simply can’t get the Castle ready for launch for another few days.”_

“We understand, Coran,” Shiro said. “Just keep working on it. We’ll look for the prince-”

“Lance,” Hunk said suddenly.

Shiro smiled and even though his smile wasn’t visible, it was audible in his voice. “Lance, then. We’ll find him, princess,” he said.

 _“I believe you,”_ Allura said. _“I can keep the wormhole open for two tocks at most. Hunk, your Lion should remember the signal from Lance’s jump suit communicator. Ask your Lion to scan for it.”_

Hunk nodded before remembering no one could see him. “R-right,” he said. “And how do I do… Oh.”

Thoughts- not words so much as images and impressions- flowed into the yellow paladin’s mind. Hunk knew instinctively that it was his Lion. He got a flash of Lance treading water in the ocean of Khonsu followed closely by an overlay of a signal on a grid map. Then a negative impression.

That couldn’t be good. “Um, I’m not sure how to say this,” Hunk began hesitantly, “but I don’t think Lance is here anymore.”

 _“What do you mean he isn’t there?”_ Allura said urgently.

“Yeah, how do you know that?” Pidge demanded. “We just got here.”

Hunk sighed in exasperation. “I don’t really know how to explain it, but I think my Lion is telling me it doesn’t detect Lance’s jumper suit signal on the moon anymore. I don’t think he’s here.”

“Then where the fuck is he?” Pidge exclaimed.

“Pidge, language,” Shiro said absently.

The green paladin rolled his eyes. “Fine, where the quiznak is he?”

 _“Pidge, language,”_ Allura said.

“Your brother said it,” Pidge countered petulantly. “I’ll stop saying it when he does.”

 _“Which will be never, I’m afraid,”_ Coran groaned.

 _“And whose fault is that?”_ Allura grumbled.

_“Uh, well…”_

“Guys,” Shiro said just loudly enough to get attention. “Focus. If Lance isn’t here, then where did he go?”

“You don’t think he was captured, do you? Oh god, please say he wasn’t captured,” Hunk moaned. “What if they did capture him? What if they torture him? What if they kill him? What if they-”

_“Hunk, please.”_

Hunk fell silent at the princess’s quiet plea.

 _“Go ahead and do a full system scan of Khonsu,”_ the princess requested. _“If you find Lance or the Blue Lion, contact me immediately. You won’t be able to reach it, but at least we’ll know where it is. Hopefully, we can get full power back to the Castle and come get the Blue Lion after we retrieve my brother. In the meantime, while you’re scanning, Coran and I will continue to work on the Castle.”_

“Understood,” Shiro answered promptly. “Okay guys,” he said to his fellow paladins. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

 

“Sir,” Haxus said upon entering the bridge.

“What is it?” Commander Sendak said, tilting his head but not looking away from the screen he was focused on.

“It’s the prisoner. He’s talking.” Haxus waited until Sendak turned around, now wholly focused at his second-in-command.

“Is he?” Sendak asked. “What is he saying?”

“He didn’t speak to me, sir,” Haxus admitted. “He spoke to the halfbreed.”

Sendak narrowed his one remaining biological eye. “Is that so?”

Haxus nodded. “I doubt he said anything of interest, but I thought you would want to know. Emperor Zarkon wished for the prince alive and unharmed, but he witnessed you punching him.”

“Your point?” Sendak snapped.

Haxus shrugged. “He is undoubtedly expecting a wound there,” he said. “But would he have any idea how bad that wound might be?”

Comprehension began to dawn. “If we do interrogate him, we’ll have to take care not to leave any marks,” the commander considered.

“One more thing.”

“I’m listening.”

“The halfbreed challenged me.”

Sendak snorted.

“I put him in his place, of course,” Haxus reassured his commander. “But considering he was the only one the berry-muncher spoke to and the challenge-”

“You doubt his loyalties,” Sendak said thoughtfully.

“Well, he isn’t a pure Galra,” Haxus said.

Commander Sendak nodded. “Keep an eye on him. In the meantime,” he grinned, “perhaps I’ll pay a little visit to our guest.”


	8. Warm Temptation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sendak tests Lance's endurance and Lance tests Keith's endurance with a very tempting challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** No Team Voltron in this chapter, sorry. Just some Lance an Klance. Team Voltron returns next chapter. Promise.

Lance had lain back down on the ground after Keith left. That had been about a full tock ago and honestly, he was getting bored. Keith was interesting, not to mention good looking.

Lance wasn’t sure how long he’d been on the battlecruiser but he could feel the vibrations of the ship as it picked up speed. That was interesting, but there was still nothing to do.

Finally, he stood and began pacing. His eye was giving him difficulty discerning depth accurately. He rolled his one good eye and walked up to the cell door. There was an access panel by the door, but it would be useless to try to use it because Galra technology, like Altean technology, was genetically locked. Only Galra could access Galra technology and only Alteans could access Altean technology. Besides, one of the first things Lance had tried after getting tossed in here was try to hack the panel. No luck.

Footsteps reverberated from the hallway- footsteps Lance didn’t immediately recognize. Then the door slid open revealing Commander Sendak and another Galra the prince didn’t recognize. Keith was nowhere in sight. Unnerved, Lance straightened his back and planted his feet. He was a prince. His people may be all but extinct, but he was still a prince and he would not submit to just anyone. Especially anyone so obviously loyal to the betrayer Zarkon.

The larger of the two Galra, Sendak, stepped into the prince’s cell and glared at Lance with one bionic eye and one mechanical eye. This was the first time Lance got a good look at the commander, and he wasn’t impressed so much as slightly disgusted. Sendak’s proportions were off due to his mechanical left shoulder and arm. Purple energy buzzed between the metal shoulder and false arm. Sendak was a cyborg.

Lance had nothing against cyborgs. If you lost a limb and could or wanted to replace it with a mechanical one, then by all means. But in this case, the prince highly doubted Sendak had lost his arm so much as had it removed and replaced with technology. Why anyone would willingly do that was beyond Lance.

“Enjoying your quarters?” Sendak asked.

Lance narrowed his eyes, refusing to answer.

“I understand you were quite talkative to your keeper,” Sendak continued, as if he never expected Lance to respond in the first place. “I’m not surprised a lower life form such as yourself would feel sympathy for a halfbreed.”

Lance kept his eyes straight forward while Sendak approached him, circling him like a predator eyeing its prey. It caused the prince’s hackles to rise and his skin to prickle. He could feel Sendak’s eyes on him. The Galra standing in front of Lance hadn’t moved except to cross his arms and observe. This was the first time Lance began to doubt his escape plan.

“Perhaps you could talk to me,” Sendak offered. “I have a few questions which I would very much like to be answered.”

Lance stayed quiet and unmoving.

“The Emperor has requested you be brought to him alive and unharmed,” the commander continued. “However, he said nothing about existing injuries.”

Lance tensed, instinctively flinching away from the metallic gleam in the corner of his left eye. Had his right eye not been swollen shut, he probably would have seen the attack coming easily, but he didn’t. Cold metal clamped down on his swollen eye and pressed. Lance grunted and ducked away from the pressure. He turned to stare at Sendak and in doing so lost sight of the other Galra.

That was his mistake. Before Lance could react, arms looped under his own and lifted up to rest by his shoulders effectively rendering both of his arms useless. He struggled to get out of the hold like he’d been taught as a child, but the metal was back on his wounded eye and pressing hard. He bit his lip to prevent himself from crying out in pain.

“Talk, and the pain will ease,” Commander Sendak said casually. “Be silent and I’ll start to enjoy myself.” The yellow toothed grin Lance saw with his one good eye was something he never wanted to see.

He would not submit.

“From what I’ve been told, you made a space jump from the Yellow Lion to the surface of Khonsu before your capture,” Sendak said. “Why? What were you doing there in the first place?”

Lance said nothing. The pressure increased bringing with it a new spark of pain.

“You must have had a reason to be there,” Sendak said. “Tell me.”

Lance remained silent and the pain increased. His lip began to bleed from the force of holding back his voice.

“Is a Lion there?” Sendak asked. “Our scans turned up nothing.” His golden eye hardened. “Or perhaps not a Lion but the Castle of Lions?”

Lance said nothing but whimpered when the pressure on his eyes increased.

“Tell me why you were there,” Sendak demanded, beginning to lose his temper. “What were you looking for?”

Tears began to form in the prince’s eye and a sob broke through his lips, but he said nothing.

“Your yellow paladin left you behind,” the commander said, trying a new method. “Clearly you don’t mean as much to your own people as you think you do. I remember the Sentinel title from history. Wasn’t the Sentinel’s job to protect the chosen Heir by any means necessary? Even at the cost of their own life?”

“I believe it was,” the Galra holding Lance captive answered in a conversational tone.

“Then you were never intended to survive,” Sendak said, returning his dispassionate gaze to the Altean prince. “You were meant to die for another. In essence, you were born to die.”

Lance tried his hardest to remain impassive, but the words stung.

“The emperor mentioned a princess,” Sendak said. “Your sister, I presume? She was the chosen Heir wasn’t she? You were supposed to die for her. But it didn’t work out that way, did it?” Sendak smiled. “Tell me shapeshifter: did she die before or after you woke up from whatever kept you alive all this time?”

Lance glared at the Galra and growled. Sendak’s smile grew to a smug grin and Lance knew he’d lost a battle.

“You killed her, didn’t you?” the commander asked. “You wanted to live so badly that you murdered your own sister to ensure your own survival.”

_No. He’s baiting you. Say nothing._

“Such an action is admirable in a Galra,” Sendak said. “Are you sure you’re fighting for the right side?”

Lance knew he shouldn’t say anything. He shouldn’t give any sort of reply at all. But he couldn’t help it. He didn’t regret it either.

He spit in Sendak’s face, feeling warm satisfaction settle in his belly when he saw the Galra commander’s stunned expression as saliva dripped down his glowing red mechanical eye. Then the expression morphed into fury.

“You pointy-eared bastard,” Sendak snarled and clamped his mechanical hand around Lance’s throat.

The prince gasped and struggled to catch his breath as the metal fingers closed tighter and tighter around his neck until he couldn’t breathe at all. The Galra holding him from behind released him and Lance’s hands immediately flew to the metallic hand currently choking him to death. His flesh and blood fingers scrabbled against the metal, trying to find a grip to pull the mechanical fingers away from his vulnerable throat. Breathe. He needed to breathe!

Suddenly, Lance’s feet were no longer on the ground and his body was literally hanging from Sendak’s grasp. The Altean’s legs twitched and kicked, his toes brushing the floor just enough to tantalize him. He couldn’t breathe. His chest hurt. His lungs burned. His body felt hot, then cold, then heavy, as he ran out of oxygen in his system. The sight in his one good eye began to tunnel. He was dying, he realized with a cold finality. His blood roared in his ears drowning out whatever the Galra were saying. His hands slipped, falling limply by his side as his sight went black.

He had the brief sensation of falling, then felt his body slam into something cold and hard. It took a minute for him to comprehend the fact he wasn’t dead. He was breathing, coughing, desperately trying to get enough oxygen to satisfy his deprived system. He was alive and he was on the floor of his cell.

Alone.

He suddenly wasn’t bored anymore. He didn’t want to be noticed. He didn’t want something to happen. He just wanted to lie here and come to terms with the fact that he was alive. He was alive.

He was alive.

He sobbed.

Why?

Why was he alive? Why had his father thrown him into a cryopod? Coran would have been the better choice. Lance was a fighter pilot and master marksman. He would have been useful to King Alfor and Altea during the Great War. Why did the king toss him into that pod? He didn’t even ask Lance for his opinion on the subject. Lance had no ties to the Lions or the Castle except for his title as Sentinel.

But even that was a title more focused on his sister. Allura had been chosen as the heir of Altea and Lance was chosen to be her Sentinel. It was his job to watch and warn for danger and, if necessary, give his life to save hers. He never doubted his place. Sentinel was a title to be proud of. So why wasn’t he proud? Why was he so scared? Why had no one ever taken his flirting seriously?

Because they knew he would die.

He didn’t want to die. He wanted to live.

He was so alone.

He wanted to live, but not alone.

Allura. He had to get back to his sister. He had a duty to her. He had to live for her. He loved her.

He loved her. But he also hated her. She could never know. Lance hated himself for his own thoughts, even as he wept on the cell floor alone and cold on a Galra battlecruiser in the middle who-knows-where space.

* * *

 

When Keithek returned to the Altean prisoner’s cell, he was momentarily caught off guard. Lance was nowhere to be seen. He almost panicked, until he noticed fluffy brown hair poking out from behind the cot in the far corner of the cell. Curious, Keithek walked carefully into the cell until he could see Lance clearly.

The Altean was curled in the corner between the cell walls and the cot with his legs folded up to his chest. His arms wrapped around his legs, holding them firmly in place, and his head was bowed, hiding his face from sight. His brown hair was beginning to look a bit limp and the prisoner was probably in dire need of a shower, but otherwise he looked alright.

So why did this whole situation feel _off?_ Normally, Keithek would come in to see the Altean lounging on the ground like a carefree idiot with a smile on his face and flirtatious manner. But something about Lance’s body language now screamed ‘Stay away!’ louder than any voice could.

What had happened while Keithek was away? What did he miss?

“What happened?” he asked pitching his voice low. It just seemed wrong to speak loudly in this place right now.

Lance was silent.

Now Keithek began to worry. He had never seen the Altean be silent before. There was always a steady stream of words, whether they made sense or not, flowing from Lance’s mouth. But now there was silence. It was disconcerting.

Keithek paused. Why was he feeling concern for a prisoner? He hardly knew the Altean. Lance was just an assignment, and yet Keithek found himself calling the Altean prisoner by name. Lance was a challenge that Keithek welcomed. It was a challenge that meant no harm. Quite the opposite in fact; it was attractive. It appealed to Keithek’s alpha instincts in a way nothing or no one else ever had before.

But seeing Lance like this, submissive and closed off, made the halfbreed uncomfortable.

“Who made you submit?” Keithek demanded, fighting back the annoyance he felt at the very idea of the Altean submitting to someone else. When Lance still said nothing, Keithek bit back a growl. He dropped to a crouch and stared directly at the Altean’s head, waiting for Lance’s face to lift. “Who was it? Who did you submit to?”

“I didn’t submit!” Lance snapped, finally lifting his head to glare directly into Keithek’s unusual eyes. His voice was a little more hoarse than Keithek remembered it to be. “Unlike _some people_ ,” Lance said derisively, “I don’t submit to just anyone.”

“What’re you implying?” Keithek hissed.

“How quickly did you go to Sendak with what I told you?” the Altean demanded, ignoring the halfbreed’s question. “Did you go to him immediately or did you wait until you got bored before letting him take over?”

Keithek glared, trying to piece together the situation. “What are you talking about? I haven’t spoken to the Commander since your capture.”

“Oh yeah?” Lance purred angrily. “Did he promise you a promotion if you got me to talk? Was that why you were friendly with me? Because I was a means to an end?”

“What the jurt are you- The Commander has no interest in me. Why would he?” Keithek rolled his eyes. “I’m a halfbreed. As far as he’s concerned, the only reason I’m on this ship in the first place is because I’m a damn good pilot and there aren’t any Druids on board.”

That seemed to catch Lance’s attention. “No Druids?” he repeated.

Keithek furrowed his brows. “No, none,” he confirmed. His eyes focused on the still dark bruise blossoming around the Altean’s right eye. “Otherwise, they would’ve healed your eye already. The Emperor wants you unharmed.”

Lance snorted a humorless laugh. “A little late for that,” he said with a snarky quirk of his eyebrows. “I’m supposed to be alive too.” He huffed. “I wonder how long that will last?”

“What do you mean?” Keithek asked, not liking the Altean’s tone.

Lance chuckled darkly. “You might want to crawl back to your commander’s lap and let him know that he can suck my dick if he thinks I’ll submit to him,” he said. “Quiznak him. He deserves it.”

“The Commander,” Keithek murmured, his gaze zeroing in on Lance’s face. “He tortured you?” Keithek’s violet eyes skittered across the prisoner’s face and what he could see of Lance’s skin for any new marks. “Did he make you submit?”

“As if I’d submit to a fanatical crazy bastard like him,” Lance said with a scoff. He tilted his head to the side so his gaze could linger on the closed cell door. Unfortunately, this gave the halfbreed a better view of his neck. It may still be shadowed, but Keithek noticed the marks beginning to appear there.

Without asking for permission, Keithek took hold of Lance’s chin in a firm grip and tilted the Altean’s chin back so he could see Lance’s bare neck. The sight was not a good one. Fresh bruises in the vague shape of a hand print as well as indentations from some sort of mechanical device encircled Lance’s throat. They were faint for the moment, but they would grow darker over time.

Keithek felt the same growl build up in the back of his throat. He jerked Lance’s face close to his so their eyes were directly in front of each other. “I don’t care what they do to you,” he said suddenly. “You will not submit to them. Do you understand me?”

“Wha-” Lance gasped. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Do _not_ submit to them,” Keithek said, tightening his grip on Lance’s chin.

Something changed in the Altean’s expression, a sparkle returned to his one good eye. “Oh?” he asked, a smirk tugging the corners of his mouth. “And why not? You don’t control me. You never will.” Keithek growled audibly but it only served to broaden Lance’s smirk. “I submit to who I want, when I want.”

“Do _not_ submit to them,” Keithek commanded.

“What’s the magic word?” Lance asked in a sing-song voice.

Keithek hesitated, his eyes narrowing in confusion. “Words are magic?”

Lance sighed and rolled his eye. “I guess that’s a bit above your grade right now,” he said, earning him a glare. “We’ll work on it.” The smirk was back full force, this time accompanied by Lance willingly lifting his chin so Keithek could access his vulnerable neck. “Right now, I have a question.”

“What makes you think I’ll answer?” Keithek countered.

“You just did.”

That…was true. Keithek pouted and Lance’s smile just grew wider.

“Fine,” the halfbreed conceded, trying not to look at the willingly offered neck. “What do you want?”

“Help me get out of here.”

Keithek blinked, then laughed in disbelief. “What?” He studied Lance’s face closely in growing comprehension. “You’re serious,” he murmured.

“Very,” Lance said. “Come with me.”

 _That_ gave Keithek pause.

“You’re not beneath anyone,” Lance said. “You’re my equal.”

“You’re a prisoner,” Keithek said firmly.

“Not for much longer,” Lance said seriously. “You don’t have full command over me. You never will. _No one_ ever will, honestly. But once Sendak takes me to Zarkon, he’ll hand me over and you’ll never see me again.” Lance took Keithek’s hand, startling the halfbreed. “Let’s get out of here. Just you and me. We’ll be free of this. We’ll fight Zarkon.”

“You won’t win.”

Lance gave Keithek a sly grin that did things to the halfbreed he wasn’t sure he disliked. “Are you so sure?” Lance asked, his words dangling a tidbit of information in front of the halfbreed’s face.

“We’re about to go into a slipstream,” Keithek said. “It won’t work.”

“Again,” Lance said, leaning closer, “are you so sure?”

Keithek did not give way, not even when the Altean unfolded himself and leaned forward so he was very much in Keithek’s personal space. “You say you’re a good pilot,” Lance said. “I think I’m better.”

Keithek glared. “Is that a challenge?”

“Only one way to find out, Keith.”

Jurt, the way the Altean said that truncated form of his name was just sinful. Lance knew exactly what he was doing. Keithek _knew_ Lance knew what he was doing, but the halfbreed was still falling for it. It was a trap, and not necessarily a bad one.

“Show me,” Lance said. “Impress me or I won’t believe you.”

Keithek snarled. “Don’t tempt me,” he warned.

Lance leaned closer so his lips were a hair's breadth away from Keithek’s and breathed on them. “Didn’t you know?” he teased softly. He ran his tongue along his lower lip, knowing exactly how distracting it was to the halfbreed. “I’m a bad influence.”

Keithek gulped. “We wouldn’t make it,” he said, trying to come up with a counter argument.

“It’s a better chance than staying here,” Lance said, reaching up with his left hand to trace a nail down Keithek’s light purple cheek. “Of course,” he added, “I understand if you’re too afraid to-”


	9. Heat of the Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things happen in the heat of the moment during an ill-fated escape attempt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Remember when I said Team Voltron would make an appearance this chapter? Yeah, I lied. It's all klance. Sorry not sorry. I'll edit this tomorrow after I work and finish he homework that's due Thursday that I haven't started on and have no idea how to do.
> 
>  **FYI:** _Aganju_ is the Orisha god of fire, volcanoes, and the desert from Yoruba mythology. "Smeg" is a curse word from the British TV show _Red Dwarf_ and "frell" is a curse word from the scifi series _Farscape._

He really should have expected the move. Well, that’s not necessarily true. He _had_ expected the move; he just hadn’t expected it to be so frelling fast. One second he was all but breathing into Keith’s mouth, the next he was thrown back against the cold, metal wall and held there by Keith’s clawed hands gripping his shirt collar.

“I’m not scared!” Keith hissed, his violet eyes boring into the Altean.

Lance preened under the attention. He tilted his head and gave his best sultry grin. “Really?” he drawled, his lone eye flickering up and down Keith’s body. The Galra uniform may have put him on edge, but quiznak, it made Keith’s body look good. “Prove it. Escape with me. Fight Zarkon with me. No one will look down on you. We can do this.” He winked, although it looked more like an exaggerated blink.

Keith was hesitating, his head shaking side-to-side slowly as he attempted to process what was going on. “Zarkon controls most of the known universe,” he said. “He’ll find us and kill us.”

“Then what do we have to lose?” Lance said. “Die now or die later. We’re both mortal. We’ll die anyway with or without Zarkon. I choose to die free without Zarkon. What do you choose?”

Keith sat back, his eyes wide in surprise. Lance said nothing. This was something only Keith could decide. Lance wouldn’t make the decision for him.

“I…” Keith gave a shaky sigh and swallowed, his eyes staring fixedly into Lance’s. “I want to be free,” he said softly.

The smile he offered Keith in response was gentle and encouraging. “Then let’s get the quiznak out of here.”

Keith nodded and stood up, offering his hand to help Lance to his feet after a moment of thought. “The escape pods are several floors down,” he said quickly, as if afraid he would change his mind if he stopped to think things through.

“Then we’ll go there. Lead the way, Keith,” Lance said with a flirtatious smile gesturing to the cell door.

Lance watched Keith struggle with himself before his eyes became steely and he went straight to the cell door panel and activated it. The metal door slid open only to reveal four drones. For a moment, Lance felt real fear course through him. He stepped back as his stomach dropped. Had… Had Keith betrayed him?

Before he even had the chance to consider hardening himself and leaping forward to attack, Keith had pounced on the nearest drone, ripping one of its arms off and flinging it into another nearby drone. It was impressive.

Feeling hope surge back into his heart, Lance grinned and joined Keith in taking down the drones. He went in low, executing a spinning kick connecting at the back of the knee joint of a drone, knocking it off balance. As the drone fell, Lance dove forward and snatched the drone’s weapon. He counted his blessings. It was a plasma gun; now the tables had turned.

He fired his first shot at the fallen drone before spinning on the balls of his feet, remaining low to the ground to minimize himself as a target. He blasted a second drone, then finished off the other two Keith had originally taken out. Next he took aim down one end of the hallway then the other end searching for any signs their scuffle had been heard. After a few ticks, when no one showed up, Lance stood and lowered his newly acquired weapon flashing Keith a grin.

“Now this is more like it,” he said.

“Those drones were mine,” Keith said in frustration.

Lance shrugged. “Should’ve been faster,” he teased. He popped his eyebrows up and down. “Let’s go.”

Keith glared at Lance, his lips barely revealing his teeth, before shaking his head. “Idiot,” he muttered. “Get them inside,” he ordered pointing back to the cell. “If someone finds them, they’ll sound the alarm.”

“Oh.” Lance blushed and rubbed his neck with an awkward smile. “Nice call.”

Keith shook his head and bent down to start dragging a drone back into the cell. Lance took hold of another drone and together he and Keith piled the drones into the cell before Keith closed the door.

“Nice muscles there, Keith,” Lance said.

“Whatever,” Keith grumbled, grabbing Lance’s arm and dragging him down the hallway towards what the Altean hoped were the escape pods.

Lance had no idea what a modern Galra battlecruiser looked like on the outside nor had any idea of its modern internal schematics. He made a mental note to find and memorize those soon after he escaped this place. Hopefully, Keith could give some insight into that endeavor.

In the meantime, Lance trusted Keith to guide him through the hallways. There were several close calls with flesh and blood Galra, but most of the personnel on board appeared to be drones. The drones were easy targets. Thankfully, Keith seemed to know all the nooks and crannies to hide in to avoid the Galra. It made Lance wonder how often Keith had to use these hidey-holes to avoid bad situations in the past. Considering how many there were, it left the prince with a nagging feeling that there had been quite a few bad situations.

They were having good luck avoiding detection so far. Naturally, that was when things began to go wrong. They passed another door that looked strikingly similar to Lance’s former prison cell, except Lance was willing to bet this one was much less comfortable than his had been. There were probably prisoners in there; innocents who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lance remembered the Great War with intense clarity. He knew what happened to prisoners back then. It wasn’t pretty. He would bet prisoners’ fates these days were just as bad if not worse.

“Wait,” he said, stopping by the door.

“What are you doing?” Keith demanded. “We can’t stay here. Come on.”

Lance neatly avoided Keith’s attempt to drag him further down the hallway. “Is there anyone in there?” he asked, pointing to the cell door.

“Yes,” Keith said, as if the answer was obvious. “They’re probably being ferried to the nearest trade post to be sold.”

“Slavery?” Lance breathed, horrified by the idea. “That was outlawed periods ago.”

Keith gave the Altean an odd look. “How long were you out?” he asked. “Slavery has been legal longer than I’ve been alive.”

“Do you agree with it?”

Keith stood straighter and schooled his expression to impassivity. “Why?”

“Yes or no?” Lance asked in a curt voice.

“No,” the halfbreed answered after a moment. His ears twitched, falling back against his head. “But there’s only so much I can do.”

Lance nodded. “This is one of them,” he said. “Help me.”

“Help you?”

“Open the door,” Lance said.

“Wha- No,” Keith said, shocked by the suggestion.

“I’m not leaving without them,” Lance said simply.

“We don’t have time for this,” Keith said, glancing over his shoulder impatiently. “It’s only a matter of time before someone goes to check your cell or look for me and find one or both of us missing. The last place I want to be when that happens is on this ship. I made the decision to help you. Don’t make me regret it.”

“You want to help me?” Lance asked.

“Yes.”

“Then free them.”

Keith glared and bit his lip, forcing himself to take a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. “Fine,” he bit out. “But if we get caught, I’ll kill you myself.”

“And I’ll kill you, if that’s what you want,” Lance said.

Keith’s eyes widened, the violet irises dark against the yellow. He nodded slowly. “I’d prefer that to what they’d do to me actually,” he admitted slowly.

Lance hefted his gun so he could watch for any unwelcome guests while Keith approached the cell door and activated the panel. The cell door lifted revealing a pitch black room lit only by the light from the hallway streaming in through the opening. Lance looked at the captive aliens in the cell in sympathy. There were at least ten prisoners total all of different species.

“This was your idea,” Keith said, snapping Lance’s attention back to him. “Get them to come out. If they aren’t out in ten ticks, I’m closing this door and we’re leaving without them.”

Lance grimaced but walked into the cell. “My name is Lance,” he said to the prisoners. “This is Keith.”

“Keith _ek_ ,” Keith mumbled. Lance ignored him.

“We’re getting off this ship,” Lance continued. “If you want, you can come with us.”

“You’re Galra,” one of the aliens said. It had four arms, each with four fingers and its skin was gray and amphibious in nature. Thin, darker gray hair hung around its face in lank strands. An unusual, bulbous extension grew from its head like a blow hole.

It was subtle, but Lance noticed Keith’s flinch. “He’s a halfbreed actually,” Lance offered, ignoring the burning glare Keith shot him. “I’m Altean.”

“Altean?” the alien gasped. “Impossible. Your species was wiped out.”

Lance gave a pained smile. “Interesting how impossible things are actually possible.”

“Is it true then?” the alien asked, hoping kindling in its eyes. “The legend?”

Lance’s smile fell. “What legend?” he asked carefully.

“The legend of the Defender?” the alien pressed.

Lance cleared his throat. “Look, we don’t have much time so let’s go.”

“Is it true?” the alien pressed, desperately.

The Altean winced, feeling Keith’s gaze on him like fire. He sighed. Might as well admit it. It wouldn’t be a secret for much longer no matter what happened anyway. “It is,” he said. “I’m the Blue Lion’s paladin.”

“Lion?” Keith murmured.

“Are you coming with us?” Lance asked the alien.

“We’d never make it,” the alien said, shaking its head.

“We will,” Lance disagreed with a determined gleam in his eyes. “I promise.”

“Look, make a decision already,” Keith commanded. He tensed and growled at something over Lance’s shoulder, fingering his knife. “They found us.”

Lance whirled around and raised his gun up to take aim and fire at the Galra foot soldier racing towards them. Unfortunately, distance shots were harder to make accurately due to his still swollen right eye. Close shots weren’t too bad but the farther away the target, the less accurate his shots became due to his lack of depth perception. His shot went wild, and he let out a colorful curse that had Keith lifting his eyebrows, impressed.

There was a small stroke of luck. Lance may have botched the shot, but the soldier still dodged to the side. Keith used the opportunity to throw his knife, striking the soldier in the face. In was a remarkable throw.

“Nice skills you have there,” Lance said, flashing Keith a smirk as the soldier fell dead to the floor. “You have any other skills involving good aim?”

“I’m a good shot and can fly through tight spaces,” Keith answered mildly, pulling his knife out from the dead soldier’s face and wiping off the blood.

“I bet you’re excellent with tight spaces,” Lance said, smirking.

Keith hesitated, watching the Altean suspiciously. He was clearly missing something but he had no idea what. He lifted an eyebrow when Lance knelt and began to remove the Galra’s armor.

“What are you doing?” he asked in confusion.

“Blending in.”

Before Keith’s eyes, Lance’s skin morphed into a light purple, his shoulders became a bit broader, and he grew another inch or so. The Altean wasted no time pulling on the fallen soldier’s armor, fitting the helmet on last.

“What do you think?” he asked, twirling around and striking a goofy pose.

Keith blinked. “You have blood on your chest plate,” he said flatly.

Lance visibly wilted. “Whatever,” he groaned. “Everyone’s a critic. So,” he called over Keith’s shoulder, “You all coming or not?”

Keith turned back to the prison cell to see the aliens gathered out in the hall watching the two of them with mixed expressions of awe, confusion, and suspicion. They didn’t have time for this.

“Look,” Keith snapped. “Come if you are or stay if you want. But we’re leaving now.” He grabbed hold of the Altean’s wrist and practically dragged Lance along beside him.

“Ooh, forceful,” Lance said in a sing-song voice. “I like it.”

“I’ll be more forceful if you don’t move your smeg, idiot,” he grumbled.

“Smeg?” Lance repeated, feeling the word out with his voice. “I’m not sure I know what that means.”

Keith flushed and rolled his eyes.

“I believe it’s the Galra word for the part of the anatomy that excretes waste,” the alien from the cell offered, catching up to Lance and Keith.

Lance snickered. “So my butt?” he joked. “Aw, Keith. You noticed my butt? Or should I say smeg? Is it a nice smeg?”

“Just kill me now,” Keith grumbled. He glanced back to see all of the alien prisoners had elected to follow them. “Why did I think this was a good idea?”

“You didn’t think,” Lance replied.

“What?” Keith snapped, baring his teeth at the Altean who shrugged off his threatening move with a chuckle.

“You acted in instinct,” Lance continued. “It’s a very base thing. You should be commended.”

Keith could swear he saw Lance eye him through the dead soldier’s visor and couldn't stop the resulting blush from coloring his cheeks.

“We’ll need more than one escape pod for this group,” he said, hoping to distract the Altean. “We can’t fit this many in one pod. We’ll need at least two.”

“We can do it,” Lance said, never losing his enthusiasm. “Just lead us there, Keith.”

Keith rolled his shoulders and stalked forwards, doing his best to ignore the things that happened to his body whenever Lance said his truncated name. It was a couple more minutes of sneaking around before they finally made it to a row of escape pods. He moved to get in the first one when Lance stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“The prisoners first,” he said.

“What? Are you crazy?” Keith cried.

“Get in,” Lance ordered the aliens.

Keith pulled Lance aside and whispered fiercely, “Are you insane? If we don’t leave right now, we could get caught in the slipstream when the ship makes the jump.”

“We’re not leaving until they do,” Lance said calmly but firmly.

Keith hissed and gripped Lance’s currently purple chin and yanked the temporarily taller Altean down to his level. “I didn’t come this far just to get caught.”

“You won’t be,” Lance said sincerely. “I promise.”

“Thank you.”

Startled by the unexpected voice, both Lance and Keith turned to the speaker. It was the alien from the prisoner cell. The alien smiled and waved.

“I will spread the word of your return Blue paladin,” the alien said. “News of the Defender shall spread. You have our gratitude and support.”

Lance felt his shoulders slump as if a heavy weight had suddenly settled on them. Nevertheless, he nodded in silent acknowledgement. The alien pressed a button inside the pod which caused the door to slid shut and the pod was ejected.

“Our turn,” Keith said, hurrying towards another escape pod.

He never made it.

A sharp jolt shook the whole battlecruiser tossing anything or anyone not prepared for it to the ground. Galra personnel would have received a warning, but apparently prisoners and halfbreeds weren’t important enough to receive the warning. That was the only reason Lance could come up with to explain how he and Keith had ended up on the opposite side of the hallway in a groaning mess of limbs.

“I take that back,” Keith said, slumping against the wall. “We won’t be getting out in an escape pod at all.”

“What the quiznak was that?” Lance groaned rubbing his head. He would have a bump there despite the helmet’s so-called protection.

“We just entered a slipstream,” Keith said morosely.

Lance tensed. It was too dangerous to leave a ship while in slipstream. They could be lost in some unknown area of space, or inside a star, or ripped apart by the forced bending space and time to create the warp bubble in the first place. No matter what, it was almost a guaranteed death sentence.

“Quiznak,” he whispered.

“We should’ve just left them behind,” Keith muttered. “You and your bleeding heart.”

“Hey, this bleeding heart is going to get us out of here alive,” Lance said sitting up abruptly.

“Oh yeah?” Keith said sarcastically. “And how do you plan on doing that, you quiznak?”

Lance sat up all the way. “Did you just curse me?” he asked, stunned.

Keith threw his hands up in the air. “We’re stuck on this frell forsaken ship with no way out and you’re worried about me cursing you out? Quiznak you.”

“Love to,” Lance answered promptly. “Later.”

Keith jolted as if electrocuted. “What?” He did not squeak that.

Thankfully, his not-squeak was drowned out by the sounding of a ship-wide alarm. Alright, so that wasn’t a good thing.

“They figured out we escaped,” Lance said, staring up at the ceiling where the alarm speakers were located.

“No, really? Are you sure?” Keith snarked.

“What about the main hangar?” Lance asked urgently. “A larger ship might break through the slipstream.”

“And end up in a star?” Keith exclaimed. “No way. I’m not that crazy.”

“Quiznak,” Lance cried in frustration. “I’m not giving up. Not now. I’m too close.” He stood and began making his way back down the hallway the way they came. “I’m going to get out of here, get the Blue Lion, and get back home.”

“We can’t leave,” Keith insisted, getting to his feet. He didn’t move from his place however.

“I’m not giving up until I’m dead,” Lance called back. “I will _not_ give up. I will not submit myself to that.”

“Then what will you submit to?” Keith couldn’t help but yell over the alarms at Lance’s retreating back.

The Altean paused. This had gotten serious fast. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This wasn’t how he was supposed to die. He couldn’t leave Keith here. He had to get Keith out at least. He’d promised that much.

“This Lion that alien mentioned,” Keith said, suddenly much closer to Lance. He spoke softly, but it was still audible over the blaring alarms. “Do they come in colors other than Yellow and Blue?”

Lance glanced at Keith with his one good eye suspiciously. “Yes. Why?”

“Is red one of them?” Keith asked.

Lance stiffened. “How do you know that?”

Keith took a deep breath, coming to a decision. “This way,” he said, snatching Lance’s wrist and dragging him down the hallway the opposite direction Lance had been going.

Lance was getting a little miffed about the whole yanking around thing. He tolerated it for now because this could involve the missing Red Lion. That was the only reason why he didn’t demand an explanation from Keith. He just kept pace and shot down anyone who crossed their path. His shots still weren’t as accurate as he preferred, but they did the job.

When Keith stopped, it was so sudden that Lance slammed into the halfbreed’s back. Keith ran his hand over a panel on the wall and a large door slid open. On the other side was a huge hangar with a very familiar Red Lion sitting serenely within a red, hexagonal-patterned particle barrier.

“The Red Lion,” Lance murmured. “How-?”

“Don’t ask me,” Keith said, hurrying inside and closing the door behind them. “It’s been here for a week or so. We found it on the volcanic planet Aganju and brought it aboard. The Commander’s been obsessed with it. Or he was until he found the Yellow Lion, then you.”

Lance didn’t reply. He just placed his hand on the barrier, not surprised when it remained in place. Allura had chosen him to be the Blue Lion’s paladin, not the Red Lion’s. At least he knew where the Red Lion was now.

“Can you get the shield down?” Keith asked.

Lance turned to Keith and shook his head. “No,” he said reluctantly. “Only the red paladin can.”

“Okay, so who’s that?”

Lance’s shoulders drooped and he turned back to the dormant Red Lion. “No idea.”

Any hope Keith had vanished.

Then the doors burst open and bolts of purple plasma blasted the Red Lion’s particle barrier, narrowly missing Lance and Keith. They both took cover behind a control panel mounted on a pedestal near the center of the hangar. Lance did his best to fire at the oncoming drones, but there were simply too many of them and his aim was still maddeningly off.

“Jurt it all,” he cursed angrily.

Keith felt useless without a weapon of his own. He only had his knife and he couldn’t afford to throw it. If he did, then he’d be completely weaponless. This was hardly a fair fight. He refused to be captured. He refused to be forced to submit to Sendak or Haxus or any other purist Galra. Though he was loath to admit it, he didn’t like the thought of the Altean idiot submitting to them either.

He looked at the darkening marks around Lance’s neck and felt a rush of something that was simultaneously thrilling and electrifying. “Do you trust me?” he said suddenly.

“What?” Lance called back, still firing at the enemy that was getting too close for comfort.

“Do you trust me?” Keith said louder.

Lance paused, ducking behind the pedestal to look at Keith directly. “Yes,” he said after a moment.

“Then hold on,” Keith commanded, holding out his hand.

Lance didn’t think about it. He grabbed hold of the offered hand. Keith gave what could have been a smile, then slapped his hand on a large button on the pedestal. Instantly, the air rushed passed them with the force of a gale. Keith gripped the pedestal for dear life as the unprepared drones were sucked out of the now open hangar bay doors into the abyss of the slipstream. Unfortunately, the vacuum of space was also sucking Lance towards it.

Lance may have screamed- Keith certainly did- but neither could hear the other over the roaring winds. Keith risked freeing one finger to poke at the button, but he couldn’t muster up enough strength to press it. It was then that the weight of what he’d done crashed into him, filling him with horror. He had condemned both himself and Lance to death.

Something black and metal smashed into the pedestal right where Keith’s hand was with enough force to break his fingers. Screaming in agony, Keith instinctively let go and flew out into space. Lance flew up beside him screaming and reached for him with his free hand.

Then the terrible silence of space deafened them. They couldn’t breathe. They were going to suffocate or hit the edge of the slipstream and be ripped apart. Well, if they were going to die, then what was there to regret?

Keith pulled Lance towards him and in the silence of space, instants from slamming into the slipstream, he bit the Altean’s neck hard and held on. They would die together.

Something huge and red flashed across his blurring vision. An instant later, they hit something with enough force to end everything.


	10. Balmy Discourse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Team Voltron prepare for the Galra's arrival, Keith has trouble coming to terms with...stuff, and Lance is oblivious. For the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Ok, so I went on a rampage and wrote this chapter and the next one literally in one sitting. I got to my favorite hangout, the Rook  & Pawn board game cafe, and chilled here from 5:30-9:30pm and just wrote this. I honestly thought it would all fit into one chapter, but when I realized it was breaching 4,000 words, I decided to cut this chapter in two. It ended up being over almost 8,000 words total. Wow. I'll post the next chapter (the second half of this) tomorrow afternoon/evening. Gotta keep y'all on the edge of your seats somehow, right? ^_~

_“Paladins!”_ the princess’s voice yelled over the two Lions’ communicators. _“Return to the Castle immediately!”_

“What? Why?” Pidge said, sitting up in his pilot’s seat.

“Yeah,” Hunk said. “We haven’t found either Lance or the Blue Lion.”

“I doubt we could, actually,” Pidge said slowly.

 _“Paladins,”_ Allura called again.

“We’re coming, princess,” Shiro answered, leaning over Pidge’s shoulder. “We’re almost to the wormhole. Are you alright?” he asked urgently. “Did something happen?”

 _“Our long range sensors have detected a Galra ship nearby,”_ she began.

“What?” Hunk gasped, immediately switching on his own long range sensors. “Here?”

 _“No,”_ Allura replied. _“It’s en route to Arus.”_

“Um,” Hunk hesitated. “Where is Arus?”

 _“The Castle!”_ Coran cried. _“They coming to the Castle.”_

Shiro stiffened. “Not good,” he muttered. “We’re on our way. Coran, what’s the Galra’s ETA?”

 _“'ETA?'”_ the advisor repeated in confusion.

“Estimated Time of Arrival,” Pidge clarified, fiddling with the controls of his Green Lion.

 _“Oh, well based on my calculations,”_ Coran said, _“I’d say they should arrive here in approximately two cycles. Granted, this is based on knowledge from 10,000 periods ago, but it should hold. I hope.”_

“That’s not very reassuring,” Hunk said once he passed through the wormhole.

 _“Yes well, thing about finger counting,”_ Coran said, sounding a bit flustered, _“it’s more of an art than a science.”_

“You do realize finger counting is just counting, right?” Pidge said in a flat voice.

Shiro chuckled. “We’re here, princess,” he said. “We’ll head to the bridge as soon as we land.”

The wormhole closed behind them and the Lions made their way to their respective hangers. When they disembarked, Shiro was again struck by that odd pull he first felt when Princess Allura first assigned him to the Black Lion. What if the pull was the Black Lion locked away in the Castle somewhere?

He froze, eyes wide. Was that what he was feeling? Was the Black Lion at the other end of this pull? If he followed it, would he find the Black Lion? He may not be able to free it, but could he see it?

A soulful longing swept over him like a tsunami, stunning him with its power and almost knocking him off his feet. He could almost hear an answer in the flood. There were no words or images, just the faintest of impressions like a flash of something in the distance bright enough to catch his attention but too quick and far to make sense of it. He wanted to find the source. He wanted to find the Black Lion.

“…ro…”

“Shiro!”

He jolted at the shout, whirling around to see Pidge perched on Hunk’s shoulders so he was even with Shiro’s ear. His mouth was still open from screaming Shiro’s name. Shiro flushed and smiled awkwardly.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” he said, stepping back and rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. He blinked when he actually noticed how tall Pidge was. A quick glance down brought a goofy smile to his face. “How’s the weather up here?” he teased.

Pidge’s concerned gaze instantly darkened behind his glasses. He hunched over Hunk’s head and glared at Shiro. “Ha ha, very funny,” he said.

“Hey,” Shiro said with a shrug, “welcome to my world.”

Pidge opened his mouth to say something then nodded. “Okay, right, yeah.”

Hunk laughed, shaking Pidge with every twitch of his shoulders. “Nice one, Shiro,” he said, holding up a hand to give the older man a high five.

Shiro’s smile softened as he returned the high five and together they made their way up to the bridge.

“You felt the pull, didn’t you?” Hunk said when they all stepped into the elevator and rode it up to the upper floors.

Shiro glanced at the yellow paladin in cautious curiosity.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hunk said with a friendly smile. “We get it. That’s how I found the Yellow Lion back on Earth, remember?”

“Yeah,” Pidge agreed. “That’s how I figured out the Green Lion was hidden in that old ruin. Remember? The giant sloth-”

“Stadig,” Shiro offered, fully expecting to be ignored.

“-kept paddling past it to the larger ruins further down the river,” Pidge continued, talking over Shiro. “It’s like a _need_. I _needed_ to go there. It felt like something was calling me.”

“In the cave back on Earth,” Hunk said, “I felt like I would cry if I didn’t go into the cave right then. When I started flying the Yellow Lion-”

“Barfing,” Pidge coughed loudly.

“I will drop you,” Hunk said flatly.

“No, you wouldn’t,” Pidge said with a smug grin. “You love me too much.”

Hunk groaned and slumped in defeat. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Shiro chuckled and shook his head as they stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway. “Pidge,” he said, patting the shortest paladin’s back in a friendly manner, “let Hunk finish.”

Pidge slumped and puffed his cheeks out in a sulk. “Yes, _dad_ ,” he grumbled.

“As I was saying,” Hunk said, “When I started flying the Yellow Lion, it was like everything was right. Like I’d found something I didn’t even know was missing. It was amazing.”

“When you weren’t barfing,” Pidge muttered just loud enough to hear.

“Pidge,” Shiro warned with a mild glare, the amusement still evident in his expression.

“Whatever,” Pidge groaned.

“Paladins,” Allura said, turning from the panel she had been standing by to face them. Her lovely eyes sparkled with worry. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“How can we help?” Shiro said, striding across the floor with Hunk hurrying after, Pidge bouncing on his shoulders.

“We need to prepare the Castle for an attack,” Allura said. “Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated.”

“I’m good with computers,” Pidge said, raising his hand. “I’d have to familiarize myself with your tech, but I’m sure I can’t at least boost the power and stuff.”

“I can help with that,” Hunk added. “We can work on fixing my Lion now, too.”

“Good idea,” Allura said with an encouraging smile.

Shiro felt a faint blush in his cheeks as he shifted awkwardly. “If you need anything moved or manual labor, I can help with that,” he said shyly.

“Oh good,” Coran chirped, flouncing over to the group and snagging Shiro’s hand. “I could use a hand with the weapons check.”

“But I don’t have any-”

“Bah, you have muscles,” Coran said, pinching Shiro’s flesh left arm, “and some extra strength here,” he flicked Shiro’s metal arm, wincing and rubbing his sore finger afterwards. “I could use that strength with the heavy lifting while I check the relays and command crystals.”

“Oh, um, alright.” A smile began to form on Shiro’s face as he was affected by Coran’s enthusiasm. “I can do that.”

“Pidge, Hunk, you two can stay with me,” Allura said. “I’m going to attempt to activate the particle barrier and the Castle’s defenses. If something malfunctions, we’ll troubleshoot the problems while we have the chance. We need to be ready to defend ourselves by the time the Galra get here.”

Both Pidge and Hunk gave the princess two thumbs up. “We got this princess,” Pidge said smiling proudly.

“You can count on us,” Hunk added.

A high pitched squeak trilled from the princess’s shoulder and Hunk’s smile slipped. “Please tell me I don’t have to work with the mice,” he said.

“They’re actually very useful,” Allura said, petting the tiny blue mouse on her shoulder with a proud smile. “They can reach places we can’t. They’ve already helped me rewire the deep space scanners which allowed us to detect the Galra in the first place.”

“Really?” Pidge asked, adjust his glasses and studying the mouse with interest. “Cool.”

“Oh boy,” Hunk sighed.

* * *

 

His first thought was of motion. He was moving. Then his mind began functioning and he realized he was _feeling_ motion. The only way to feel motion was if he was alive.

He was alive.

His eyes flew open and he flailed in shock, crumbling back to the ground when he couldn’t catch himself in time. He was moving. He was alive. He was _breathing!_

He pushed himself back up from the ground only to freeze when his left hand landed on something that gave beneath him. Blinking in the dim red-tinted light, he bit back his apprehension and looked down at whatever his hand had landed on.

It was a body, but not just any body. It was Lance’s body. The Altean was still wearing the stolen Galra armor and his skin was still a light purple, but Keithek just knew it was Lance. He hesitantly reached out and removed the helmet covering Lance’s face, wincing when he saw the still swollen eye. Lance’s chest was moving in slow, shallow breaths. But just to reassure himself, Keithek pressed two fingers to the Altean’s neck, breathing a heavy sigh of relief when he felt the fluttering pulse just under the skin. He pulled his fingers back and paled when he noticed a dark, viscous substance coating his skin. It was darker than his usual skin tone and gleamed red in the reddish light of whatever room they were in.

Blood. Lance was bleeding.

Fighting back the panic clawing at the edges of his muddled mind, Keithek scrambled to remove the metal chest plate from the Altean’s disconcertingly limp body and undo the two top buttons of Lance’s shirt revealing his neck. There, on the side of the Altean’s slender, vulnerable neck was a bite mark that Keithek instinctively knew was his. But… When…?

A flash of darkness and silence suddenly blinded him. He could see Lance flailing uselessly in the vacuum of space, his body a stark contrast to the dark battlecruiser and the brilliant, convoluted strands of the slipstream. They were going to die.

He didn’t want to die.

Not alone.

He’d yanked the Altean close to him as the pain from his oxygen deprived lungs began to burn and the saliva in his mouth began to boil. Lance wrapped his free arm around him, desperately seeking something to hold, to anchor them, to stop their inevitable tumble to death and Keithek buried his teeth in the expanse of exposed neck right by his mouth.

He’d bitten Lance.

Jurt, he'd _bitten_ Lance.

He vaguely knew he was hyperventilating and shuddering. His heart pounded painfully against his rib cage and his limbs and face tingled. What had he done? _Why_ had he done it? He’d been so certain they were going to die. They _were_ going to die. They should be dead. So why were they alive? How were they alive? Why did he Mark Lance?

His panicked thoughts screeched to an abrupt halt when a deep, rumbling purr drowned out all sound, filling him with soothing calm. Emotions that were definitely not his own flowed into his mind, covering every synapse with a warm, comforting blanket of red-tinted silk. The purr never stopped, vibrating his panic until it fractured and fell away. His breathing eased to slow, deep breathes that appeased his deprived lungs. His heartbeat slowed too until Keithek was vaguely aware it was still beating. His shaking stopped and the tingling faded, replaced by an almost euphoric calm.

He only broke himself out of the mesmerized state when he felt his eyelids drooping shut and his body slumping to the floor. He caught himself right before he landed on Lance’s unconscious body. Keithek came back to himself stunned but calm. He let out a heavy sigh and pushed himself back up. Lance needed medical attention. If he did wake up, which Keithek sincerely hoped he would, then the last place Keithek wanted to be was hovering over Lance’s body like an obsessed mate.

Even though he had technically mated Lance already.

His face burned the moment that thought crossed his mind. He should be ashamed of himself. He’d mated Lance without asking permission. They’d only known each other for a day or so, and that had been in a prisoner-keeper relationship which wasn’t the best kind of setup for getting to know one another and courting. Even though Lance had shamelessly flirted with him.

What if Lance rejected him? It would be completely understandable. But something in Keithek’s subconscious knew he probably wouldn’t be able to handle it. Lance wasn’t a Galra, he was Altean. Keithek wasn’t familiar with Altean physiology, but he doubted Alteans had the same connection to their mates as the Galra. If Lance rejected Keithek as a mate, it probably wouldn’t affect him. But it would definitely affect Keithek.

The Galra only ever took one mate in their lifetimes. If one mate rejected the other, then the situation would fall apart very quickly. Rejected omegas tended to lose their fertility, rejected betas tended to lose their energy, and rejected alphas tended to lash out at anything and everything. But no matter what status the rejected Galra held, death was the inevitable result whether it was by suicide or throwing themselves into work or some method of distraction and simply allowing themselves to waste away.

Keithek didn’t want to die. Maybe his diluted blood would lessen the emotional, mental, and physical impacts of the rejection. Maybe he could recover and find another mate, if any Galra would take him.

He was a fool. Something hot and wet slid down his cheek leaving behind a tickling, wet trail. He brushed his fingers against the wetness and stared at it, his mind trying to come to terms with everything. He was crying.

The soothing purr returned, but this time it didn’t completely calm him. It did serve to distract him and draw his attention elsewhere though. He breathed in deeply through his nose, willing his tears away and looked around the room he found himself in. It was relatively small and dark. The only light source was tinted red and coming from the room beyond.

He couldn’t make out more because his view was blocked by a chair. Curious, Keithek stood and made his unsteady way to the chair, placing a hand on the back as he leaned around it to get a better look at the lit room. It was a cockpit, he realized. The whole front of the cockpit was a view screen currently showing the familiar black of space and twinkling points of distant stars. Two other view screens, one on either side of the cockpit, showed a star chart with various signals moving about and an endless rush of letters in a language Keithek didn’t recognize.

“Woah,” he breathed, stepping further into the cockpit.

He gave a startled cry that was embarrassingly high pitched when something crashed into him from behind forcing him to fall into a cushioned surface. He turned his head and recognized the chair he’d walked around. It was on a rail that allowed it to move back and forth easily between the cockpit and the back room where Lance still lay blessedly unconscious. Keithek may not have known the Altean too well, be he doubted he would have escaped the humiliation of his little scream without some sort of teasing.

The purr returned, this time with impressions, images, thoughts that weren’t words so much as they _became_ words when they filtered through his head. The Lion. The Lion was purring, speaking to him. It was sentient and it wanted Keithek to pilot it. Well, if it was sentient, then it probably knew what it was doing.

“Please don’t let me regret this,” Keithek mumbled under his breath as he wrapped his hands around the control handles.

He knew what to do. It was as if the instructions had been placed directly into his head. Maybe they had been, he thought. The Lion was sentient after all. There was the impression of laughter and Keith flushed. The Lion was laughing at him. What even?

Shaking his head, he pushed the controls forward, and he felt the Lion-ship move ahead and ease into a right turn. Something was flashing on the screen to his left, silently demanding his attention. He glanced at it and, although he couldn’t read the foreign letters, he got the feeling the Lion wanted to go there.

“Ok,” he said. “Let’s go there.”

He glanced back over his shoulder to be sure Lance was still there, then completed a full turn and flew towards whatever signal the Lion wanted him to go to. Maybe it was a space station or something that had medical services. He doubted it.

It wasn’t a space station. It was actually the same gas giant the Galra had been orbiting when this whole mess started, Tefnut.

“I don’t get it,” Keithek murmured. “Why did you want to come back here?”

There was a groan behind him and the halfbreed flinched. Jurt, now things were going to get interesting.

“What the quiznak?” Lance grumbled.

Keithek didn’t look back, but he cold heard the soft thumps of the Altean rolling around back there. Lance was probably trying to get up and not doing too well.

“Ow,” Lance whined. “My neck hurts.”

Keithek did _not_ blush. He did _not_.

“Wait.”

And now the realization.

“Holy frak!”

Keithek blushed. Who knew a member of a formerly extinct species had such, erm, colorful vocabulary?

“I’m not dead! What the- where- how- Oh Lions, _please_ tell me I didn’t hallucinate that whole thing. That would seriously quiznak everything up.”

“You didn’t hallucinate it,” Keithek said over the rumble of the Lion’s engine. He didn’t look over his shoulder either. If he did, he’d see his Mark on Lance and that would just… No. Just no.

“Keith?” Lance called. “Where are… The Lion... We’re- Are we in the Red Lion?!” Lance cried, scampering up into the cockpit until he stood next to Keithek staring out at the main view screen, struck dumb by the sight.

“Yeah,” Keithek said, giving his Altean companion a quick glance. “Not sure how, but yeah.”

Lance gave Keithek a cursory glance, then did a rather comedic double-take. “Wait. You’re _flying_ the Red Lion?”

Keithek winced, his sensitive ears flicking and folding back against his head. “I can hear perfectly fine at a normal volume,” he snapped. “And yes, I am flying it. You’re welcome.”

When Lance didn’t say anything for a full minute, Keithek twitched and gave an explosive sigh. “Ugh, _what?_ ”

For the first time since Lance had woken up, Keithek looked directly at the Altean. Lance’s lone dark blue eye was wide with shock and his mouth was hanging open. His entire body was tense and it was beginning to grate on Keithek’s nerves.

When Lance didn’t reply to Keithek’s question, the halfbreed grumbled, “Look, if you don’t like it, get ove- GAH! WHAT IN THE- _GET THE FRELL OFF ME, YOU IDIOT!_ ”

The Altean ignored his pleas and frantic struggles, naturally. In fact, Keithek was ready to bet Lance actually squeezed him tighter to more he demanded to be set free.

“You’re a _paladin!_ ” Lance yelled loud enough for Keithek to pin his ears against his head again. “HA! I am a frakin’ genius! I not only found the Red Lion but I found its paladin too!” He cackled madly. “Take _that,_ Allura!”

“Lance, if you don’t let go of me right this second, I will eject you, I swear!” Keithek hissed.

Instead of letting him go, Lance simply crouched down on the floor by Keithek’s right, his arms still loosely clinging to the halfbreed, and smiled brilliantly. “You don’t understand, Keith,” he said. His face glowed with excitement. “We can defeat Zarkon now. We have a _chance_ now. We can do this. We can actually _do this._ ”

“What the jurt are you talking about?” Keithek said, totally thrown by the Altean’s words. “Look, I can dream about defeating Zarkon. Frell, I can even talk about it,” he said, returning his focus to Tefnut growing ever larger in his view screen outside. His entire demeanor slumped. “But it can’t happen,” he said softly. “Zarkon is a cruel bastard. He’s powerful, he’s got the backing of the Druids, he controls most of the universal trade routes, his spies are literally everywhere…” He shook his head. “Not to mention he controls just about the whole known universe.”

“I know.”

Keithek turned back to Lance. The Altean’s face was solemn, almost sad.

“Believe me, I know,” Lance said with such heavy sincerity that Keithek began to wonder what kind of business Lance was involved in that Zarkon wanted him alive and unharmed so badly. “I know better than most, I think,” Lance continued, his eye clouding with memory.

It was Lance who broke their eye contact this time, turning to look out the main view screen. He nodded to the view. “Get me to Khonsu,” he said. “If I can get the Blue Lion, then I’ll take us to where the others are and we can start fighting back.”

“Others?” Keithek asked. “There are others?”

Lance smiled, and Keithek felt the strange sensation of something he rarely knew these days. Hope.

“Oh yeah,” Lance said. “Put it this way: have you ever heard of Voltron?”

Keithek scrunched his nose. “It’s an Altean tale.” At Lance’s odd look, Keithek shrugged. “An Altean tale,” he reiterated. When Lance still looked mildly confused, Keithek rolled his eyes. “Geez, you’re an Altean. How could you not know what… Oh.” He flushed in understanding. Fortunately, Lance still looked mildly confused.

“I’m not really sure what you mean by ‘Altean tale,’” Lance said slowly. “I get the feeling there’s more to that phrase than I’m aware of, but anyway. You _have_ heard of Voltron though, right?”

“Yes,” Keithek said, nodding as he flew the Red Lion towards Khonsu in Tefnut’s rings.

“It’s real.”

“ _WHAT?!_ ” Keithek cried, pulling up the Red Lion abruptly, tossing an unsecured Lance back into the room behind him.

The Altean groaned. “Ow. Some warning next time, fluffy ears.”

“Did you just insult me?” Keithek growled incredulously.

Lance sighed noisily. “I tell you Voltron is real, and you’re worried that I insulted your very fluffy, very cute, twitchy ears. Priorities, Keith. Priorities.” Lance waggled his finger at Keithek mockingly.

“Says the pointy-eared Altean with purple skin who believes in myths,” Keith shot back, returning his attention to piloting the Lion.

“Bite me,” Lance said snidely.

“Already did.”

“...What?”

Frakin’ frell.


	11. Burning Sensation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Keith gets distracted and almost kills the refugees, Lance is distracted, Lance is the distraction, Keith is distracted, a challenge is issued, the Blue Lion rises, and Lance is a lost cause.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** And now, the second part. Feels in this chapter, but don't worry. There is some klance in this too to balance it all out. Hope y'all are ready for this rollercoaster. I sure wasn't when I wrote it, but I love it.

Thankfully, blessedly, a beeping sound accompanied by flashing lights tore Keithek's attention from his burning hot face to the view screen on the right. His eyebrows flew up to his hairline and he pulled the Lion directly upwards, just barely missing two small ships which whizzed past the Lion’s gigantic front paws.

“Frak!” he yelled.

When the ships passed by, Keithek got a good look at them. It was the two escape pods from the Galra battlecruiser. He sighed. It’s a small universe after all.

“It’s the escape pods from the battlecruiser,” he said aloud for the Altean’s benefit. “Did you program them to head for Khonsu?”

No response. Keithek bit his tongue. He was really hoping the Altean’s uncharacteristic silence wasn’t a bad thing. He licked his suddenly dry lips and put the Lion into a nose-dive towards the moon’s oceanic surface.

“Look,” he said, breaking the now very uncomfortable silence in the Lion’s cockpit. “I’m not sure where to start looking for the Blue Lion. A little direction would help.”

Footsteps came up to his side and he fought down the urge to look at Lance, too terrified of what he would see on the Altean’s open face. Were all Alteans like Lance? Did they all wear their emotions on their sleeves? It was so alien the Keithek. The Galra valued control in practically every aspect of life. If the Alteans acted as carefree as Lance did, it was no wonder the Galra had issues with them. They were complete and total opposites.

The silence continued until Keithek couldn’t take it anymore. He turned to the Altean, mouth open, ready to snap at Lance and stilled. Lance was standing with his unswollen eye closed and his brow furrowed in concentration. He seemed to be in some sort of meditative state. It was unnerving to see.

Keithek eased his Lion out of the nose dive so he hovered in the air not far above the choppy waves. Everywhere he looked was water. Everything looked the same. He had no idea what he was looking for and as far as he could tell, there weren’t any signals to track either. Except for the escape pods which were currently falling through the atmosphere several klicks to the left.

Movement to his right caught the halfbreed’s attention and he turned to see Lance, eye still closed and brow still furrowed, pointing to the right. He didn’t say a word, just pointed. His head tilted slightly to the side as if listening to something only he could hear. Keithek remembered the purr from his Lion and wondered if maybe Lance _was_ hearing something only he could hear.

The Red Lion purred in the halfbreed’s mind in agreement. That seemed like the best confirmation he was going to get, so Keithek took the controls and guided his Lion across the ocean’s surface in the direction Lance was pointing. A gentle pressure on his shoulder alerted Keithek to the fact Lance’s hand was now resting his free hand there. The hand tightened, and he looked over to see Lance’s finger had moved a little so it was pointed almost due straight.

From that moment onward, Keithek continued in whatever direction he was facing until he felt a change in the pressure of the Altean’s hand on his shoulder. He would take note of the new heading and adjust his course accordingly. A few minutes into the flight and Lance’s nails dug sharply into his shoulder painfully. Keithek stopped his Lion and looked back at Lance. The Altean’s eye was open, but clouded over. He was seeing something, but whatever it was, it wasn’t in the here and now.

“Open the door,” Lance said, his voice soft and distant.

“What door?” Keithek asked, scanning his controls. “There’s a door in here?”

That was stupid. Of course there was a door in here. How else had they gotten into the Lion in the first place? But where was it? Keithek didn’t remember seeing any doors in the cockpit or the room behind it. And where were the controls to open this mystery door?

He knew.

He pushed several buttons in a particular sequence the Lion provided and there was a sudden rush of air behind him. Startled, Keithek turned in his chair to see a hole in the floor in the back room. Light and the subtle roar of the ocean waves filtered in through the hole from outside. Lance said nothing. He just turned around and walked straight to the hole.

“Lance?” Keithek said.

The Altean didn’t stop.

“Lance, wait.” The halfbreed stood and grabbed Lance’ shoulder, halting his movement. “What’re you doing?”

Lance blinked back to himself and faced Keithek. The halfbreed tried to school his face to hide his concern and confusion but apparently he’d failed because Lance gave him a wan smile.

“It’s down there,” he whispered, his eye flicking down to the white caps below the hole.

“What is?” Keithek pressed. “The Blue Lion?”

Lance nodded. “I couldn’t feel her last time,” he said, a note of mild confusion in his voice. “But I can now. I need to go to her. I need to find her.”

“You want me to wait up here?” Keithek asked.

Lance studied the halfbreed closely before turning to the view screens in the cockpit. “Go check on the refugees,” he said. “I’ll be back.”

Keithek didn’t move as he watched Lance step closer to the hole. “Is that an order?” he said softly, a note of warning in his voice.

Lance stilled. “Do you want it to be?” he asked without looking back.

Keithek seriously considered the question. “Maybe,” he said. Lance faced him directly, confusion evident on his face. Keithek looked at the Mark on the Altean’s neck significantly before meeting Lance’s dark blue eye. He was intrigued to see the faint flush coloring Lance’s purple skin. “I’m not going to apologize for it,” Keithek said simply.

Lance pressed his lips together. Keithek watched in fascination as the Altean’s body shifted. The purple faded to the dark tan Keithek secretly preferred.

“You didn’t ask,” Lance said after a moment. “I don’t even-” He bit his lip and Keithek began to see the traces of fear and anger in the Altean’s face. Lance looked away and ran his fingers over the Mark on the right side of his neck and up to his bruised eye self-consciously. “I don’t even remember you doing it.”

“Well, we were kind of flying through the slipstream after I depressurized the hanger bay,” Keithek offered. “In my defense, I was 99.99 percent sure we were going to die.” Lance gave a one-shouldered shrug in a non-verbal agreement to that statement. It gave Keithek enough courage to say what he wasn’t sure he could have said otherwise. “I didn’t want to die alone.”

Lance dropped his gaze, clearly struggling with the whole thing. “I don’t either,” he admitted after a moment. His eye flickered up to Keithek’s and away almost too fast to see. “I still wish you could’ve asked,” he said.

“You can’t really speak in the vacuum of space,” Keithek said.

Lance shot him a look that spoke a thousand words. It was rather impressive how so many things could be piled into one, single look. Then the Altean huffed a laugh and the tension broke.

“At least I’m mated to a guy with cute, fluffy ears and a very nice smeg,” Lance said with a sly grin.

Keithek’s face definitely turned bright red. He could only sputter in confusion as Lance leaned into his personal space and very deliberately tilted his head so his neck was revealed. Keithek swallowed over his very dry throat.

“I believe I said ‘bite me’ earlier,” Lance said, a playful grin on his lips.

Keithek cursed the Altean. Lance knew exactly what he was doing. “And I believe I said, ‘I already did,’” he replied, finding it difficult to tear his eyes away from the Marked neck of his mate.

For some reason, the sight of the blossoming bruises from Commander Sendak’s mechanical hand around Lance’s throat ignited a burning fury within him like nothing Keithek had ever felt before. It hit him in a burst of comprehension leaving him stunned. It was the alpha hormones. Jurt it all, Keithek had been quiznaked from the moment he met the Altean. One look at Lance’s bright blue eye and he knew Lance knew it too.

They’d both played a careful game that ended with both of them winning. It was an unusual conundrum, but not necessarily an unwelcome one. If Lance was willing to press his luck and try this whole mating thing out, then Keithek might as well give it an effort as well. He had nothing to lose and everything to win, after all. Why the frell not?

“You asked for it,” he warned, before jerking the Altean flush against him and biting the mate Mark hard.

The faint whimper Lance let out had his body warming, his ears flicking forward in full alert, and sent a fire racing through his veins. He tightened his grip on Lance, placing one hand against the Altean’s lower back to keep their bodies close and weaving his other hand into Lance’s short brown hair. He gripped the roots of the soft hair and tilted his mate’s head farther back for easier access.

His mate.

He purred and sucked the Mark, enjoying the way Lance sighed and shuddered against him. “Mine,” he breathed against a dark, pointed ear. “You will submit to no one but me,” he ordered softly. “ _No one_ but me.”

Lance breathed a shaky laugh. “You’ll find I don’t submit easily,” he said. Keithek grinned when he heard the flutter in his mate’s voice. “You’ll have to make me.”

Keithek growled and nipped the ear by his mouth eliciting a sharp yelp. “I can do that.”

Satisfied he’d made his point, Keithek stepped back and ran his gaze over Lance’s body with a new kind of interest. Lance’s face was dark red and the Mark on his neck was much darker and more pronounced now. It would scar over leaving an unquestionable reminder that Lance was claimed.

Lance slapped a hand over his aching Mark when Keithek stared at it hungrily. His face was still red when his good eye narrowed and he grinned. “So can I,” he said.

Keithek had a moment of confusion before he had an armful of Altean and felt a burning pain pierce his own neck. Quiznack, Lance was Marking _him_. That certainly did things to his alpha side that Keithek found he greatly enjoyed. When Lance finally let go, he didn’t pull away immediately. He licked the bruise he’d made and straightened slightly. That fact Lance was slightly taller than him was a minor annoyance to Keithek, but not to the point that he wanted this to stop.

Lance brushed his lips lightly up Keithek’s neck, nuzzled the halfbreed’s back hair, and bit the ear closest to him. Keithek yelped and hopped back, his hands clamped firmly over his sensitive ears and stared at Lance in shock.

Lance gave one of those ridiculous blink-wink-things and _changed_. His skin lightened to a sea green shade, thin webbing grew between his fingers, and gills folded out from the sides of his neck. The change was quick and Keithek was still trying to come to terms with the fact his mate had _bitten his_ _ear_ and then _shapeshifted_ into an aquatic version of Lance that he almost missed the Altean’s parting words.

“I dare you to make me submit, Keith,” Lance said.

He waved innocently and then dove through the open hole into the ocean below before Keithek could answer the challenge and pounce on him. As it was, Keithek just managed to fall to his knees at the hole’s edge and stare down at the splash where Lance broke the endless ocean’s surface. He stared at the place his mate disappeared for several ticks in silence before grinning.

“Always did love a good challenge,” he purred, smiling darkly.

The Red Lion purred an agreement in his head as Keithek stood. He would do as Lance ordered and take care of the refugees. But he would be back in a tock and if Lance hadn’t reappeared by then, then so help him Keithek would make him _wish_ he had.

* * *

 

He moved through the water easily in this form. It had taken a few ticks to get used to breathing through gills but he’d gotten the hang of it and was now gliding through the clear water towards the sea floor. He could feel the pressure grow the deeper he went. The color of the filtered light was greenish down here and rippled with the movement on the ocean’s surface. It was enchanting, but Lance couldn’t afford to be distracted.

The salt in the seawater burned his aching Mark, but instead of annoying him it made his blush return. Who would’ve thought. By the Lions, what a day this had been. Had it really only been a day? Two days? Maybe? It felt like just two days ago the Great War had been raging against Zarkon and his Galra army and now he was looking for the Blue Lion and had a Galra halfbreed as a mate.

That would certainly take some getting used to. But if Keith kept acting as adorable to Lance’s advances as he had in the Red Lion, then the Altean prince was looking forward to it. The Galra were known to be possessive of their mates. Lance loved to flirt. He wondered how Keith would take Lance flirting with others. He never really meant his flirtations to go anywhere. It was all a harmless game as far as he was concerned. But maybe, just maybe, Keith would react. Hopefully not in a bad way.

Who knows. Maybe it would end up in fantastic sex. Lance was down for that.

For now, though, he had to focus. He closed his eyes and felt for that pull in his mind and soul. It took a tick for him to feel it as strongly as he had before. It called him down, farther down. Deeper. Deeper.

He obediently followed the call until the pressure began to make him uncomfortable and the light was a dim, murky green. Thankfully, the sea floor was just a bit farther, He could see it clearly now through the thin membrane covering his good eye, protecting it from the water. A stalagmite rose from the sea floor and Lance brushed his hand against it. Sketches carved into the stone Lance hadn’t noticed at first due to the lack of light suddenly blazed a brilliant sky blue. Confronted by a bright light after his eye had grown accustomed to the darkness this deep underwater, Lance flinched back and shut his eye.

He eased it open and saw the glowing carving led down to an underwater cavern that glowed a lovely sapphire from inside. His heart pitter-pattered against his chest in excitement. This was it. He was almost to the Blue Lion.

He dove down, swimming as fast as he could through the water and into the cavern. Bubbles slipped from his mouth when it dropped open. There, protected by a blue particle barrier and sitting on a ring of glowing blue carvings, was the Blue Lion. _His_ Lion.

This was his chance. He could be a pilot again. He could be free in the sky. He could fly.

He swam right up to the barrier and pressed a webbed hand against it. The barrier rippled before vanishing in a flash of light. The Lion’s eyes lit up a soft gold and it stood from the sea floor and opened its massive maw. Lance smiled and swam fearlessly into the Blue Lion’s mouth. The mouth closed around him, leaving him in total darkness except for the five thin beams of blue light from the boarding ramp that would normally fold out from the Lion’s mouth, had he entered it from dry land.

The pressure changed and a rushing sound assaulted Lance’s ears as the water level dropped. He popped his head above water the first chance he got and let his aquatic appearance fade back into his natural form. Once all the water had been drained from the room and he could breathe fresh air once more, a portal in the back of the Lion’s mouth slid open revealing a hole through which he could climb up to the cockpit.

His first glimpse of the cockpit almost had him in tears. He was dripping wet, a little cold, and standing in the cockpit of the Blue Lion. Reacting to Lance’s thought, the Blue Lion activated its heating system bring a chuckle to the Altean’s lips.

“I can fly again,” he whispered.

A tear slipped down his cheek and he strode forward to sit gingerly in the pilot’s seat. His hands felt the controls. He still wasn’t one hundred percent sure he _wasn’t_ hallucinating this whole thing. It just all seemed too fantastical to be true.

His shivered and a gentle presence flooded his mind. He bowed his head and sobbed. The Blue Lion purred and Lance wept. He wept for Altea. He wept for his father. He wept for Allura. He wept for his new mate. He wept for the paladins. He wept for himself.

Here, in this place deep under a faraway ocean, he could cry and scream and fall apart. The Blue Lion would never judge him or make him feel like he’d been born to die. Here, he wasn’t the Sentinel of the Castle of Lions. Here, he wasn’t Allura’s brother. Here, he wasn’t Keith’s mate. Here, he wasn’t a member of a formerly extinct, now currently endangered, species. Here, he was just Lance: a scared boy who had lost his parents, his home planet, his freedom to choose a mate… He’d lost all control of his life. Here, it was safe to cry.

But it couldn’t last forever. Nothing ever could.

He sniffed and rubbed his running nose, immediately regretting it when the move irritated his sore right eye. He brushed his tears away and took a few ticks to regain a semblance of control over his emotions. Keith couldn’t take care of all those refugees all by himself and the Galra were on their way to what Lance highly suspected was the Castle of Lions.

They currently believed Allura was dead and that he was the keeper of the Lions, but that wouldn’t stay a secret for long if Allura inadvertently revealed herself. Lance had to protect her at all costs. She had to live in order for the Lions to function properly and Voltron to be formed. She had to live until she passed her power on to her heir, whoever that might be. Then that heir had to live until they passed their power on to another and so on and so forth.

And always, standing carefully in the shadows, would be a Sentinel to watch, guard, and protect the heir with their everything. That was Lance’s job now. He would not fail.

He gripped the Blue Lion’s controls feeling the giant beast guide him through the motions to rise through the water and into the crystal clear sky. His Lion roared loudly when it broke the water’s surface and swerved to the right towards the place the refugees’ escape pods landed and presumable where Keith was in the Red Lion.

Unable to resist, Lance activated his communicator and said, “Miss me Keith?”

Keith’s startled expression appeared on the left view screen and Lance grinned at it, giving his mate a playful salute. Keith just lifted an eyebrow at him and rolled his eyes.

 _“Idiot_ _,”_ the halfbreed grumbled.

Lance caught the half hidden smile and snickered. “How many refugees were you able to get?" he asked, changing the subject.

Keith glanced over his shoulder in the view screen and looked around before turning back to Lance. _“I was able to fit about five of them in here,”_ he said. His nose wrinkled. _“They stink_.”

Lance let out a choked laugh. “Well, I probably smell like seawater, so I guess we should avoid each other for now. Wouldn’t want to offend your delicate sensibilities,” he teased with a shrug. Yep, that was definitely a blush in Keith’s cheeks. “I’ll get the other five and we’ll head back to the Castle of Lions,” Lance said, smiling gleefully.

 _“You know where it is?”_ Keith asked in surprise.

Lance nodded, flying his Lion down to the floating escape pod that had the hatch open with aliens sticking their heads up out of it as the seawater sloshed in and around the vehicle. “We can’t travel by wormhole, but-”

 _“Wormhole?”_ Keith gasped.

“-these Lions can go pretty fast,” Lance continued. He commanded his Lion to open its mouth and lower the ramp for the remaining refugees to climb aboard. “Almost as fast as a Galra slipstream.”

Keith looked positively stunned.

“A Galra slipstream is still technically faster simply because its generator is larger so it can produce more power, but we should make some decent headway,” Lance said. “Just follow my lead and trust your Lion. It knows what to do.”

Keith nodded, his eyes still wide from the news. Lance took a moment to glance behind him and count the number of aliens in the back room. It was a bit of a tight fit, but there looked to be five of them.

“Is that all of you?” he asked the nearest alien. It nodded and Lance returned his attention to his control panel and Keith in his side view screen. "Okay, let’s get out of here.”

 _“Lance_.”

The Altean prince glanced at Keith’s image as his Lion rocketed through Khonsu’s atmosphere out into space with the Red Lion right next to him. Keith tapped two fingers against his neck and smirked.

 _“Mine,”_ he said simply and cut the video feed.

Lance said nothing, but he was sure his face said everything that was important.


	12. Fierce Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Team Voltron prepares for battle, Allura gets her chance to have feels, and hope appears on the Castle's scanners.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** No klance in this. It's all Team Voltron because they needed some attention. Also, plot required it. But don't worry, there's a hint of klance at the end. There's also the beginnings of shallura. But mostly this is Team Voltron with a highlight on Allura. But do not fear, klance will return in full force next chapter. I'm currently working on the next chapter so that should be up by tomorrow. Oh yeah!
> 
>  **BTW:** In case anyone's curious, whenever I work on this fic, I'm listening to Ivan Torrent's album _Reverie_ on Youtube. It can be found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hZdyrD38AA
> 
> I HIGHLY suggest y'all listen to it. Ivan Torrent is amazing.

Shiro was crouching down on the floor of what he thought was the main control center of the Castle. A huge, rough hewn, glowing blue crystal hung from the ceiling like an organic chandelier. It was beautiful and, according to Coran, served as the Castle’s main power source.

“Just a bit more,” Coran said slowly, working with what looked like tweezers. A thin green wire was pinched between the tweezers Coran held in one hand while his free hand wound the cords together and sealed them. It took a lot of concentration because one wrong move would mean an unpleasant shot. Fortunately, Coran had only experienced one shock since he began and that proved to be surprisingly useful. It had allowed him to find the faulty wire on the second try.

Shiro kept still, holding the heavy piece of machinery on his shoulder. For the first time in a long time, he was actually glad he had his Galra-made mechanical arm. Coran had not said a single word of disgust or given any indication that the mechanical arm bothered him. In fact, Coran had even complimented it and made use of it in a way that made Shiro feel useful and inclusive.

“Got it,” Coran said proudly. “If you could slide that back into place now please.”

“Sure thing,” Shiro said, standing. His knees creaked a bit from holding that crouch for so long but otherwise he felt fine. He hefted the device back into its slot, sliding it along his shoulder until it clicked into place. “You need anything else?” he asked, half hoping there was more to do.

“Plenty,” Coran said with a smile. “Always will, I think. But right now, I think we’ve earned ourselves a break, hm? Come on. To the kitchen we go.”

Shiro’s eyebrow flew up. “There’s a kitchen here?”

He felt slightly dumb for asking that question. Of course there was a kitchen on board. This was a Castle after all. Where was the food prepared if there wasn’t a kitchen? Without pondering that thought too deeply, Shiro fell into step next to the advisor and rolled his shoulders, pleased when he managed to get a few satisfying pops out.

Subsequently, he all but jumped out of his skin when a klaxon suddenly began blaring throughout the Castle. Shiro reacted instantly to the deafening sound, falling into a battle pose balancing on the balls of his feet expecting an attack.

 _“Paladins! Report to the bridge immediately. The Galra have arrived at Arus,”_ Allura’s voice said over the speakers. She sounded anxious.

“What?” Coran gasped. “But that’s not possible. I calculated the time it would take for them to get here myself.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, Coran,” Shiro said, placing his mechanical hand on the advisor’s shoulder. “It’s been 10,000 years after all. I would be surprised if the Galra hadn’t found a way to increase their speed and engine power.”

Coran’s shoulders slumped and his face looked distraught. “Oh dear, why didn’t I think of that?”

“Don’t dwell on it right now,” Shiro said. “Let’s just get to the bridge and figure out what’s going on.”

Coran visibly shook himself. “Right. Too much to do, too little time to do it. Let’s go.” And he was off. For such a stick-thin guy, Coran could run.

Shiro arrived on the bridge a couple seconds after Coran and was promptly greeted by the familiar image of a Galra battlecruiser on the main view screen. It appeared to be slightly damaged, but not enough to be considered substantial. But something about those particular marks…

“Wait a second,” he whispered. “Is that the same ship that chased us from Earth?” he asked louder.

Hunk, who was already on the bridge with Pidge, straightened and stared at the screen closely. “I-I don’t think so?” he said, sounding unsure of himself.

“I think it is,” Pidge said. He pointed to the scratched hull. “That was probably from where Hunk got a few hits in when we all first escaped Earth.”

“But that can’t be,” Allura murmured, her eyes flickering down to the star chart on the large panel nearest her. “There’s no way a Galra battlecruiser could get from Earth to Khonsu to Arus in two days.”

“It got from Earth to Kerberos in a few minutes when it chased us in the Yellow Lion,” Pidge said. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “What’re you basing your assumptions on anyway? If you’re basing them on the information you remember from 10,000 years ago, then that’s just stupid.”

“While I wouldn’t put it like that,” Hunk said, holding his hands up in a placating manner, “I have to agree with Pidge here. Ten thousand years is a long time. It’s hardly fair to assume the Galra haven’t improved their technology during that time.”

Allura visibly wilted. “Of course,” she said, turning her gaze up to the battlecruiser. “I suppose that was foolish of me.”

“No one’s blaming anyone here,” Shiro said quickly, stepping up to the princess’s side. “We all make mistakes. No one’s perfect.” He offered Allura a reassuring smile which she returned. “Let focus on defending ourselves and fighting back against the Galra. That’s our main priority right now. Got it?”

“Pidge and I can get to our Lions if you need us to,” Hunk offered.

“That’s a good idea, Hunk,” Allura said, straightening her shoulders so she appeared every inch the princess she was. “You two go to your Lions,” she ordered. “I’ll contact you with further information when you get there. Be ready to launch on my mark. Shiro,” she turned to the older paladin next to her and her face saddened in regret, “I think it’d be best if you stayed with me for now. Without the Blue and Red Lions, we can’t free the Black Lion so there’s nothing for you to pilot. I’m sorry.”

Shiro smiled gently. “Don’t worry.  It’s not your fault.” He glared at the battlecruiser. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s them. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

The princess nodded. Then her eyes widened. “Wait. Hunk! Pidge! Wait a tick.”

The yellow and green paladins paused just outside the bridge and looked back at the princess, ready for more orders.

“I have something to give all of you first,” Allura said. “Coran, stay here and let me know if anything happens.”

“As you wish, your highness,” the advisor said with a salute.

Allura gathered up her skirt and hurried down the hallway. “This way paladins. Quickly.”

The ragtag group hustled through several hallways before the princess came to a halt by an unassuming doorway. She waved her hand by the access panel and an unseen lock snicked free allowing the door to hiss open. Inside was a plain room that lit up when the princess and the paladins entered. The room’s contents garnered gasps from the paladins who stood staring at the sight in shock.

“Are those…” Hunk whispered.

“Uniforms?” Pidge finished.

“I-I think they're armor,” Shiro said, stepping into the room followed closely by Pidge and Hunk.

The far wall was lined with five tall, cylindrical tanks. The tanks lit up from the inside revealing their contents to the group. In each tank was a set of armor color coded for each paladin. A large, rectangular table stood in the center of the room. Its top was a translucent panel that glowed white from below. The princess walked right up to the table and placed her hand on the glowing surface. It split down the middle and slide open revealing four simple, hand-held devices that matched the colors of the paladins’ armor.

“You're correct, Shiro. Those are indeed the paladins’ armor," Allura said. “Each color corresponds to a Lion. Hunk, you get the yellow armor, Pidge, you get the green, and Shiro-”

“I get the black armor,” Shiro said, placing his flesh hand on the tank. He pulled his hand back when the glass lifted allowing him access to the armor.

“Please put them on as quickly as you can,” Allura said. She tried not to gaze at the blue paladin’s armor hanging uselessly in its tank as she waited for the paladins present to fully suit up. Lance should be here for this. She needed to find him.

“Princess?”

Startled from her thoughts, Allura blinked and saw her paladins all dressed in their armor. She shook herself and dropper her gaze to the devices on the table.

“These are your bayards,” she said. “Again, their color is coordinated with their corresponding Lion and paladin.” Two devices rose up from the table and floated to their respective paladins when she keyed in the code. The blue and red bayards remained disconcertingly still. Allura bit her lip and focused on instructing her paladins. “Each bayard takes a unique form for its user,” she said. “The form is usually something its paladin’s will find particularly useful.”

Hunk took hold of his bayard first. He gave a grunt of surprise when the small device changed its form to a huge cannon in a flash. He hefted the cannon, finding it lighter than he expected it to be and grinned. “Nice.”

Inspired, Pidge grabbed his bayard and watched it flash into a ‘V’ shaped, glowing green blade that buzzed with electricity. “A taser blade,” he said, smirking. “I can slash _and_ electrocute. Oh yeah.”

Shiro smiled at his companions’ reactions to their bayards before looking back at the princess, waiting for his bayard. Allura’s amused smile faded when she noticed Shiro’s attention on her. Her whole demeanor drooped.

“I’m sorry, Shiro,” she said regretfully. “The black bayard was lost with its paladin in the Great War.”

That stung, but it wasn’t Allura’s fault. Things happened during war. Shiro nodded and smiled. “I guess I’ll just have to make due,” he said with a shrug. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

The princess winced but nodded. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’m going to change into my own armor and get ready for the attack. I’ll meet all of you back at the bridge in a few ticks.”

The group nodded and Allura rushed out, presumably to find her own armored suit.

“Is it just me,” Pidge mused aloud, “or are any of you getting a serious Power Rangers vibe thing going on?”

“Oh yeah, totally am,” Hunk said.

Shiro sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

 

Allura hurried down the hall to what was once her room. Technically, it was still her room but she hadn’t entered it since she’d woken from her 10,000 year long slumber in the cryopod. She didn’t want to sleep. There was a lingering doubt that what she was experiencing wasn't real, even though a part of her wanted it to be. She wanted to wake up and find herself back on Altea at a juniberry festival with her father and siblings. At the same time, she wanted to stay here. It was confusing and convoluted and this was no time to be pondering such things. She arrived at her door, waved her hand over the access panel, and walked through the door to her chambers.

“Princess.”

Pausing, Allura turned to see Coran running towards her. Instantly, she feared the worst.

“What is it?” she demanded. “What’s happened? Have the Galra attacked?”

“No, no, they’re still in orbit,” Coran said quickly. “I set the auto-alert system to sound the alarm if they begin to enter the atmosphere.”

“You got the auto-alert system to work?” Allura said in surprise.

“With Shiro’s help, yes,” her advisor said with a proud smile. “It was the last system we completed before you called everyone to the bridge. With that arm of his, we were able to fix a lot of problems that would have required a drone to help with back then.” He chuckled, then his smile faded as the implications of what he just said set in. He sighed sadly. “But that’s neither here nor there. Princess,” he said, meeting her eyes seriously. “There’s something I think you need to see.”

Intrigued, Allura nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Just let me get changed into my flight suit and-”

“Erm, I think you might want to see this first,” Coran said gently.

Allura’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion but she nodded in acquiescence. “Very well.”

Coran was oddly silent as he guided the princess down a hall towards the bridge than branched off into a side room. When Allura recognized their destination, she became even more confused.

“Coran, I don’t understand,” she said. “Why are you taking me to the holodeck? What-”

Her words trailed away when the low pedestal in the center of the room began to glow. It grew upwards before taking a form she would recognize anywhere. She covered her mouth with her hands as tears of love and shock pooling in her eyes overflowed down her cheeks. Her breath stuttered and her heart ached.

“Father,” she whispered.

The hologram of King Alfor smiled tenderly at her and she sobbed.

“Father!” she cried. Her body moved of its own accord. She threw herself at the hologram, forgetting holograms had no solidity. When her body actually made contact with something semi-solid, she wept.

“Allura, my precious daughter,” her father murmured, running a semi-solid hand through her hair. “I’m so, so sorry I left you behind.”

Coran quietly wiped a tear from his eye and made a discrete exit, not wanting to disturb this family reunion. He would have to show this to Lance when the young prince returned. He wished he’d done this as soon as he’d found the king’s memory core program during his sweep of the Castle’s main systems. With one last look over his shoulder, he left the room, taking care to close the door behind him. He would get the princess’s flight suit and leave it inside the door for her to change into when she was good and ready.

Allura meanwhile clung to her father’s image like a little lost child. “Father,” she said, her voice broken and shaking. “Why did you leave? Why did you have me put in the cryopod? Why didn’t you join us? Why didn't you let me stay with you?”

Alfor’s tender gaze saddened and he knelt so his daughter could sprawl across the floor and still cling to him. At his will, the room glowed. A tick later, he and his daughter were surrounded by the juniberry field that used to be just beyond the boundaries of the capital city of Altea. Allura’s breath caught as she turned her head in all directions, taking in the memorable sight.

“Please understand,” Alfor began, “I never intended for this to happen.” His daughter turned her gaze back to him and he pressed a fleeting kiss to her forehead. “I wanted you and Lance to live, even if I didn’t make it. You two are my lasting living children. The last of my family. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing the both of you too.” He lifted his gaze and looked around curiously. “Where is Lance?” he asked. “I had hoped to see him as well.”

Allura flinched and bowed her head. “He…” She sniffed. “Forgive me father,” she whispered. “I failed. I sent him to find the Blue Lion, but the Galra were there. He ordered the Yellow Lion’s paladin to escape before the Galra had the chance to capture it, and we haven’t heard from him since.”

Alfor’s eyes widened in dawning horror. “No,” he breathed. He shook his head. “Lance isn’t gone,” he declared firmly. “He can’t be.” He felt like he was attempting to convince himself of that more than his daughter. When he noticed Allura’s shoulders begin to shake, he placed his hands on either side of her head and lifted her face so he could see her watery eyes. “Fear not,” he said. “Lance is clever and stubborn and does not typically boast without reason.”

Allura snorted in an unladylike manner, a smile twitching her lips. Alfor smiled in return. “I did say ‘typically’ did I not?” he teased. Allura nodded, wiping her tears away. She grimaced when she realized her nose had begun to run. She flushed when her father chuckled. “I’m sure he’ll be back,” Alfor said sincerely. “He never did stray far from your side.”

Allura’s smile softened. “He always followed me around like an imprinting benu bird,” she said snickering. “He always wanted to be the center of attention. He used to tease me all the time and pull my hair.”

Alfor laughed. “He was good with the younger ones though,” he said fondly. “But you were always the leader. You could keep Lance under your thumb.”

Allura pouted, sticking her lower lip out in a childish manner. “Not when he flirted,” she grumbled. “Whenever I told him to stop, he’d flirt with me.” She shuddered playfully and rolled her eyes. “He could never take anything seriously except flying.”

“He was a great pilot.” Alfor agreed. “He still is, I bet. Don’t give up on him just yet. If there’s one thing I’m sure of,” he said with a wink, “it’s that you should never underestimate Lance’s ability to surprise.”

Allura snickered. “I know that, believe me.” She stared up at her father, glowing against the holographic Altean juniberry field and felt her heart swell. Her father may be gone from the physical world, but she still had his memory and now this in a memory core. She also had Lance, when that idiot brother of hers ever decided to show up, that is. “When I find him, I’ll be sure to give him a piece of my mind,” she said primly, tossing her long white hair over her shoulder.

Alfor threw his head back and laughed from his belly. “I’m sure you will,” he said gaily. “Whether he’ll listen to you or not remains to be seen, but I’m sure you’ll give it your best.”

Allura rolled her eyes. “I have to get back to the paladins,” she said reluctantly. “The Green and Yellow Lions have been found and the Black Lion’s paladin is here but we couldn’t find Lance. When we went to look for him, we also looked for the Blue Lion and couldn’t find it either. I’m not really surprised by that, but still… Father,” she said slowly, “I can’t find the Red Lion. Not anywhere.”

The former king’s eyes grew solemn. “We will hold out hope,” he said at last. “With you alive and your new paladins by your side, I’m sure you’ll find your brother and the Red and Blue Lions. Who knows, they may find you.”

The princess nodded and stood. “There’s a Galra battlecruiser in orbit around Arus,” she declared. “We’ve been able to restore power to the Castle’s particle barrier, but it’s nowhere near full power and we won’t be ready to leave Arus for a few more cycles at least.” She squared her shoulders and took a deep breath to steady herself, dawning the air of the princess she was. “We’re ready to defend the Castle,” she said boldly. “The Lions will not fall into the Galra’s hands.” She narrowed her eyes. “I won’t let it.”

Alfor smiled proudly and stood as well. “That’s my girl,” he said. He lowered his chin in acknowledgement of his daughter’s declaration. “Go with my blessing.”

Allura smiled and waved. The last she saw of her long lost father was a return wave, then the holographic Altea vanished taking her father’s memory core image with it. She took several ticks to gather herself before turning to leave. She stopped when she saw her flight suit resting on the floor by the door, neatly folded and ready for her. Another tear slipped down her face and she quickly brushed it away.

When she emerged from the holodeck, she was suited up and ready to fight. Her dress was folded where her flight suit had been. She’d retrieve it later, after all this mess had been taken care of. For now, she made her way to the Castle’s bridge. It was time to make the Galra wish they’d never entered orbit around Arus.

When she stepped onto the bridge, her three remaining paladins were currently in a deep discussion with Coran. Pidge was holding something that looked like a small time keeping device and Coran was holding a ticker next to Pidge’s device.

“Most interesting,” Coran said, rubbing his fluffy mustache with interest. “It seems a tick is a bit longer than one of your seconds.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, leaning over Pidge to get a better look at the two devices, “but your tecks are shorter than our minutes. And your tocks are longer than our hours.”

“But they’re close enough to not get too confused, I guess,” Pidge said, pulling his device back and strapping it to his wrist.

“Honestly,” Shiro said, a faint flush of color in his cheeks, “I’m more familiar with the tick, teck, tock thing than the seconds, minutes, hours thing due to my time with the Galra.”

Pidge blushed awkwardly and scratched his head. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

“Don’t worry, Pidge,” Shiro said, mussing Pidge’s hair affectionately. “I may not remember much about my time under their control, but if I let everything that reminded me of that time bother me then I’d be completely useless.” He smiled, flashing his teeth. “Can’t have that, now can we?”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, pumping his fist in the air. “We have to eat first.”

Pidge snickered and Shiro sighed. Coran looked simply enthused. “I think that’s a wonderful idea Hunk,” he said. “After we’ve defeated the Galra though. Consider it your reward.”

Hunk hesitated, then grinned and pounded his fist in his open hand. “Anything that gets between me and food is my enemy,” he said.

“Good thing,” Coran said. “Defeat the Galra and I’ll have a delicious and nutritious meal waiting for all of you.”

“Oh heck yeah!” Hunk shouted, hopping excitedly.

“Ready to fight, I see,” Allura said, stepping forward.

“Oh hey prince- Woah! You look awesome!” Hunk exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Pidge agreed. “Nice suit.”

The princess smiled. “Thank you. It’s my old flight suit.”

“You flew?” Shiro asked curiously.

“Oh yes,” she said. “I used to fly with my brother all the time back on Altea. Lance was the better pilot, but we both loved to fly.”

Shiro smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Good to know,” he said. “Maybe we can all go flying together one day.”

For some reason, that brought an unfamiliar warmth to Allura’s cheeks. She cleared her throat and directed her gaze to Coran who was watching her with the same gentle gaze she remembered from her youth. She wrapped her arms around her advisor’s neck, startling him.

“Thank you,” she said. She tightened her hold, smiling when she felt Coran hug her back. “Thank you.”

“Anytime princess,” he said.

They parted and Allura took a deep breath. “Alright paladins,” she said, stepping up to the pedestal in the center of the bridge. Two command towers rose from the floor, stopping at her waist. She placed her hands on the tops of the towers and a screen appeared in front of her. “Pidge, Hunk, head to you Lions. Be ready to launch on my mark. Shiro, stay here and help Coran. The Castle has defenses other than the particle barrier. With you and Coran manning them, I can control the particle barrier and keep an eye on the battlefield.”

An alarm sounded and everyone looked up to the main view screen. The Galra battlecruiser was finally descending into Arus’ atmosphere. Allura frowned, determined to win this.

“Be ready,” she commanded.

“Yes ma’am,” Shiro answered.

“We got this,” Hunk said.

“Gotcha,” Pidge shouted, running to the elevator with Hunk.

“Wait!” Coran shouted. “There’s something else on the scanners.”

Everyone paused and turned back to Coran who was bent over a panel studying the signals flashing on a gridded coordinate map of Arus’ atmosphere and surrounding space.

“What is it?” Allura demanded.

“More Galra?” Shiro asked, leaning over Coran’s shoulder. The signals were blue and red respectively.

“Oh god no,” Hunk groaned.

“Ha!”

Shiro jerked back at Coran’s exclamation and stared at the advisor in confused amusement as Coran began doing what Shiro could only liken to an overly enthusiastic version of the chicken dance.

“Uh, Coran?” Hunk called uncertainly. “Are you alright?”

“It’s them!” Coran shouted gleefully, throwing his arms up in the air. “They’re back?”

“Who?” Pidge asked, totally confused.

“Lance!”

“What?” Allura gasped, pulling up that quadrant of Arus’ space on her three-dimensional map in front of her.

“Lance is the Blue Lion’s paladin,” Coran said. “And that,” he said, pointing to the flashing blue signal on the map, “is the Blue Lion’s signal. That means-”

“It’s Lance,” Allura said, an excited smile filling her face. “He made it.” She gasped. “Coran, is that-”

“It is indeed, princess,” Coran said, turning to the flashing red signal. “That is the Red Lion’s signal. Lance found the Red Lion _and_ its paladin.”

“That means we can free the Black Lion,” Pidge gasped.

“We can form Voltron!” Allura said, her face glowing with joy. “Pidge, Hunk, get to your Lions and give the Red and Blue Lions cover. Do not let the Galra touch them.”

“Yes ma’am,” both paladins said with a salute.

Allura did not watch them go. She was too busy staring at the Blue and Red Lions’ signal and trying not to cry from relief. Her brother was back. And somehow he’d found the missing Red Lion and its paladin. She looked forward to meeting the newest paladin. She sincerely hoped Lance hadn’t let his recklessness and flirting be the first thing the newest paladin experienced. She couldn’t wait to hear their story.


	13. Blistering Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance and Keith play to the refugees' dismay, the Galra rudely interrupt Lance's flirting (for the better?), and the Black Lion is freed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I wrote this as soon as I finished writing last chapter. I swear, the _Rook and Pawn_ board game cafe is my inspiration place. Tea, calm, a deck for sitting outside, free wifi, a chill atmosphere... Aw yeah. I'll edit this one last time tomorrow morning once I've slept on it. Also, as of now I'm two chapters ahead of this one writing-wise. That's incredible for me. I've never written and hoarded to post later for any of my stories before. I usually write a chapter and post it. This is new and cool. The power... So much power. I am corrupted and loving it.
> 
> **FYI:** If anyone wants to know what music I use to inspire me while I write this story (I listened to it on loop while writing every chapter, no kidding), it's t=the album _Reverie_ by Ivan Torrent. You can listen to it on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hZdyrD38AA

_“Admit it.”_

“No.”

_“Admit it.”_

“No.”

“ _You’re a horrible liar.”_

“I am not.”

_“Yes you are.”_

“Quiznack you.”

_“Now you’re just evading the question.”_

“No!”

“ _Then admit it.”_

“It does _not_ bother me.”

A snort. _“You really need some lying practice.”_

“I’m fine.”

No response.

“I swear.”

Silence.

“Ugh, okay fine! It fraking _stinks_ in here.”

_“Called it.”_

“You know what Keith? Frak you too.”

Keith, the jerk, just sniggered at him. Lance tossed a brief glare at the Red Lion’s paladin in his side view screen before returning his gaze to the front. His nose was wrinkling from the putrid smell of unwashed prisoners. No disrespect meant, but seriously. Gross. He’d have to give Blue a deep cleaning as soon as he got the chance. He’d turned the air circulation system on full blast hoping that would help dilute the smell. Instead, all that did was spread the smell throughout the entire place. Lance was trying very hard not to take deep breaths.

He vaguely wondered if Blue could smell this too. An uncomfortable rumble in his head was a sad affirmative. Blue could definitely smell it and she did not like it one bit. Poor girl. He sighed and pushed the controls as far as he could, urging Blue to go faster. The quicker they got back to the Castle, the quicker he could unload his smelly passengers and deep clean his Lion.

 _“How much further?”_ Keith asked.

Lance studied the star map on his right view screen for a few moments. “A few more tecks,” he answered. He blinked and squinted at the map, “Frell,” he muttered. “It looks like that Galra battlecruiser’s there too.”

 _“What?”_ Keith gasped, actually looking directly into his view screen at Lance. _“You’re sure it’s the same one?”_

“I’m almost positive, yes. That crazy commander Sendak detected something he said was similar to the Lion’s signal when he first reported my capture to Zarkon,” he explained. “I figured it was the Castle but I wasn’t sure until now.” He shook his head. “I sure hope Allura and Coran have gotten the particle barrier up and running. Otherwise they’ll be sitting Stadigs on that planet.”

_“So speed up?”_

Lance nodded. “Yeah.”

He realized what he’d just agreed to a tick too late and let out a cry of dismay when Keith’s Red Lion blasted ahead of him. “You-! Not fair Keith.”

 _“All’s fair in war, Lance,”_ Keith replied with a teasing grin.

Lance glowered unhappily. “You may be faster, but that’s just 'cause your Lion’s built that way. Doesn’t mean you’re a better pilot than me,” he shot back in frustration.

_“Is that a challenge?”_

Lance grinned. “I don’t know, is it?”

Keith met his gaze in the view screen. They both grinned and pushed their Lions to the limits. Lance wasn’t as fast, but he bet he could out-maneuver Keith. He dove his Lion down so it flew just below and behind the Red Lion and pressed several buttons in a sequence provided to him by his Lion. Blue was apparently enjoying this game and wanted to play too. Lance grinned and executed the command.

Blue opened her massive mouth, bit down on the Red Lion’s tail, and tugged. Keith gave a startled cry, flailing with his controls. There were several other yelps filtering through the communication feed from Keith’s side, probably from the hapless passengers aboard the Red Lion, but Lance ignored them. This was simply too much fun to stop. Blue roared in agreement as she soared ahead to first place of their little improvised race.

 _“You-! You’ll pay for that, you stupid idiot!”_ Keith screamed, pushing his controls forwards.

Lance glanced at his map on the right and dodged to the left, neatly avoiding Keith’s pounce towards Blue’s tail. He rolled his Lion on her back and kicked Blue’s back legs out, smacking Red in the face. Keith rocked in his pilot seat and growled, his ears fully erect and alert.

 _“Oh yeah?”_ he snarled. _“Take this!”_

He faked a dive and caught the Blue Lion by surprise with his Lion’s jaw. Red clamped her jaws just hard enough to ensure a firm grip on the Blue Lion before tossing her to the side effectively throwing Lance through space. Lance managed to recover from the wild tumble laughing madly.

“This is what I’m _talking_ about,” he crowed. “Bring it, fluffy ears.”

“Please don’t,” came a weak plea from behind Lance. He ignored it.

He pushed his controls forward, dodging the Red Lion’s attempt to snap at him, and circled around so his Lion hovered above Keith’s. Then he stopped and primly nipped the Red Lion’s metal ear.

“Got you,” he teased and blasted away towards Arus and the Galra battlecruiser.

* * *

 

Keithek sat in the Red Lion, stunned by Lance’s unexpected trick. Then he narrowed his eyes and gave chase. He could feel the alpha hormones screaming through his body. _Chase. Catch. Hunt. Capture. Claim._ It was intoxicating and sent his blood pounding through his veins. He laughed. He would catch Lance and show him who the alpha in their relationship was. He would make the Altean submit.

Lance had challenged him to do just that right before diving into the ocean of Khonsu and claiming the Blue Lion. Now he was issuing the same challenge.

* * *

  _“I dare you to make me submit, Keith."_

* * *

 

“I will,” Keithek promised. “I swear I'll make you submit. I’ll make you scream.”

 _“Oh you will, will you?”_ Lance trilled through their open communication link. _“I doubt it. You haven’t even been able to catch me. How could you possibly hope to make me submit if you can’t even catch me, fluffy ears?”_

“Alright. That’s it,” Keithek roared.

He entered a command his Lion suggested and pushed his controls as far forward as they could go. The Red Lion lurched forward, barreling directly at the Blue Lion.

_“Keith?”_

Keithek ignored him, continuing to encourage the Red Lion forward. He could feel his Lion’s anticipation in his mind like a warm blanket. She was looking forward to putting the Blue Lion in its place. The Red Lion was the fastest and most agile of the pride. She knew this and intended to make sure the other Lions and paladins knew it too.

 _“Keith? Buddy?”_ Lance’s voice held a note of uncertainty in it. The Altean laughed worriedly. _“Keith, you might want to slow down now. Keith? Keith!”_

Keithek brought his Lion up and over the Blue Lion, enjoying the way Lance turned the Blue Lion’s massive head up to look at him. He could see Lance’s astonished face in the corner of his eye through his view screen and he loved it. He licked his lips and brought his Lion down on Blue’s, burying Red’s teeth firmly in the Blue Lion’s neck. He didn’t let Red bite down hard enough to cause any real damage, but he made sure he held on hard enough to resist being thrown off by the Blue Lion’s frantic attempts to throw him and Red off.

 _“Wha-? Let go!”_ Lance shouted through their open channel. _“Don’t hurt the Lions!”_

“I’m not,” Keithek replied confidently. “I’m just asserting dominance.”

 _“Quiznak you,”_ Lance snapped, still trying to free his Lion from Red’s grasp.

The Red Lion made a mental sound that Keithek intuitively knew was a laugh. “Red’s loving this, by the way,” he said. “She’s been wanting to do this since you had your Lion bite her tail.”

 _“That was a game,”_ Lance argued.

“So is this,” Keithek replied. “We win.”

He released the Blue Lion and watched it shake itself with satisfaction. Unfortunately, his gloating was cut short by a beam of purple energy that blasted between his Lion and the Blue Lion. He could feel his Lion wince. They’d been singed. It wasn’t serious, but it was enough to incur the Red Lion’s wrath.

Keithek turned his Lion about and studied the Galra battlecruiser. It had apparently been in the process of descending to the planet’s surface when it had fired. Keithek and Lance’s game must have attracted the Galra’s attention. Great.

From this perspective, Keithek recognized the battlecruiser. It was definitely the one he and Lance had escaped from with the prisoners. What a coincidence. Not. But if it was the same battlecruiser, which he knew it was, then that meant Haxus was on board. Haxus had made Keithek submit.

The Red Lion growled furiously. How dare someone make her paladin submit without her permission. They would pay dearly for even attempting such a despicable thing. Her paladin was _hers_. She shared him with his mate, but no one else. Without Keithek’s input, but with his full support, the Red Lion roared and made a beeline for the battlecruiser.

 _“Keith, wait!”_ Lance called urgently.

Keithek ignored the Altean’s voice and focused on attacking the battlecruiser. He would make Haxus pay. This battlecruiser stood for everything that had been Keithek's life before: the forced submission, the hate for his lineage and lack of racial purity, his inability to do anything that satisfied his superiors, his inability to do anything _right_. They deserved to pay. Keithek would make them pay. He would bring down this battlecruiser with Haxus on board.

Keithek felt his sight sharpen and his consciousness merge with his Lion's. Together they roared, dodging the multiple beams of purple energy from the battlecruiser and landed roughly on the hull. They made sure to skid across the surface with their claws fully extended, bounding away just as the resulting damage caused the hull to explosively depressurize. Flames danced from the giant ship in the zero gravity vacuum of space like blazing feathers. They opened their mouth and blasted the vulnerable hull with a burst of blue energy. They snarled with glee when their attack burst straight through the damaged hull to the other side.

_“Keith!”_

Keithek blinked and was suddenly back in his pilot seat, gasping and wide-eyed. His body tingled and his senses were heightened beyond what he thought he was ever capable of. “Woah,” he breathed, astounded by the experience.

 _“Keith, are you alright?”_ Lance called urgently, blasting the Galra ship with his own Lion.

Keithek caught his breath and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I’m fine. That was just… Wow.”

Lance grinned in the side view screen _“Yeah. I’ve heard it can be a wild ride.”_

Keithek tilted his head in what was both a shrug and nod. “It was… It was definitely something.” His Lion purred in his head and he smiled. “Wouldn’t mind doing that again some time.”

He felt his Lion’s approval and couldn’t help but smile broadly. Something flashed in his other side view screen and he gave it a cursory glance to see what it was. He did a double-take when he saw the signals flashing green and yellow instead of the Galra’s distinctive insignia signal.

“Lance?” he called, nodding to the signals on his view screen hoping the Altean was seeing the same thing he was. “What’s that?”

There was a tick of silence before Lance gave a holler that was completely unexpected. Keithek’s eyes widened and his ears flipped back to Lance’s image in his other side view screen faster than Keithek could turn his head. He stared at the Blue Lion’s paladin wondering if the Altean really was as insane as he’d appeared when they’d first met. He secretly thought that yes, he was, but he didn’t really want to consciously admit it.

“Um,” he said slowly. “Are you okay?”

 _“That's the others,”_ Lance said, his smile splitting his face in excitement. _“Let’s take care of this ship and get to the Castle.”_

Keithek felt Lance’s excitement grow on him as a smile worked its way across his own face. It quickly faded however when an alarm began blaring in his cockpit. He had a split-tick to look up and comprehend the purple energy raging in his field of vision before his Lion reacted on its own, dodging to the right.

“Frell!” he shouted. “The ion cannon. I completely forgot about that.”

Lance was gasping through their shared video feed, his expression just as terrified as Keithek’s probably was.

 _“The Lions can’t handle that kind of firepower,”_ Lance said. The Altean looked over his shoulder and grimaced. _“Normally, I’d suggest we all work together to deal with this, but considering our cargo…”_

Keithek nodded, clicking his tongue in annoyance. “Right.”

 _“Pidge, Hunk, can you hear me?”_ Lance called over the Lions’ communicators.

 _“Lance!”_ a male voice shouted, causing Keithek to wince and fold his ears back against his head and turn down the speaker’s volume. _“You’re alive.”_

 _“You’d better have a good excuse for going MIA on us, you crazy prince,”_ another, younger voice said. It almost sounded female.

 _“I’m not sure what ‘MIA’ means, but I’m going to assume you just complimented me, Pidge,”_ Lance said smoothly. _“I can tell you missed me. It just wasn’t the same without my awesome presence riling things up, was it?”_

Keithek’s ears twitched.

 _“Yep,”_ the higher pitched voice grumbled. _“That’s him.”_

 _“I’m so glad you’re okay,”_ the deeper voiced male cried. That must be the yellow paladin, Keithek figured. The words matched up with the giant Yellow Lion’s arrival and affectionate nuzzle it gave the Blue Lion.

Keithek’s fingers tightened minutely on the controls.

 _“Oh I’m better than okay,”_ Lance said. _“I come bearing gifts. We have refugees aboard.”_

_“Incoming!”_

The Lions broke apart just another burst from the ion cannon split the space they’d all just occupied.

 _“Thanks Pidge.”_  

Pidge. That must be the Green Lion’s paladin.

_“No problem, Lance.”_

_“Can you cover us?”_ Lance asked. _“We have to get back to the Castle.”_

 _“No problem,”_ the yellow paladin said. _“That’s actually why we’re here. Coran got the particle barrier working. Once we’re all in the main hangar, Shiro can get the Black Lion and we can form Voltron.”_

 _“Yeah,”_ the green paladin said with an audible grimace. _“Still not sure how we’re supposed to do that, but whatever.”_

 _“Don’t worry guys,”_ Lance chirped happily. _“We totally got this.”_

Keithek groaned and joined the other Lions in a nose dive towards a point on the ground that glowed a soft turquoise on his map view screen. The strange letters appeared by the strong signal making him assume that must be the Castle. His Lion shuddered as they flew through the planet’s atmosphere. He could still see the Galra’s red-purple signal on his map giving chase.

A tick later, Keithek’s Lion broke through the lower atmosphere and was speeding over a green, mountainous landscape towards a sparkling blue ocean. There, perched on a stone outcropping connected to the mainland by a series of pure white bridges that seemed to be crumbling from age was a shining white and turquoise castle. Keithek’s eyes grew wide.

“It’s beautiful,” he murmured.

 _“Oh hey newbie,”_ the yellow paladin’s voice said over the communication system. Lance’s video feed fizzled before settling back to the blue paladin’s face. Lance’s face was concerned and met Keithek’s gaze seriously. Keithek read the silent message in Lance's eyes and nodded in agreement. It would probably be best if the other paladins weren’t aware of Keithek’s identity as a Galra halfbreed until they were safely inside the castle and the Galra battlecruiser was destroyed.

_“Wha-”_

_“Sorry Hunk,”_ Lance said apologetically. _“I’m showing our new friend the ropes.”_

Keithek felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

 _“Can’t have him being distracted by your pretty faces now, can we?”_ Lance continued.

 _“You think I’m pretty?”_   the yellow paladin squeaked.

 _“Sure,”_ Lance said, looking directly at Keithek in his side view screen. _“I think all of you are pretty. But Allura’s the prettiest. No offense.”_

 _“None taken,”_ the yellow paladin said with a chuckle. _“Not really surprised either. You’re a bit biased.”_

Lance shrugged and gave one of his now trademark blink-wink-things at Keithek’s face. _“You know me,”_ he said to both Keithek and the yellow paladin. _“Can’t resist a pretty face.”_

Keithek’s ears twitched and his eyes narrowed in a warning Lance duly ignored. Keithek would have to do something about his rebellious mate’s blatant flirting.

“C _oran, now!”_ the yellow paladin yelled.

Keithek’s attention jerked back to the front just in time to pull up short when a huge hangar door opened and a turquoise glow surrounded him. He turned his Lion around to see a particle barrier made of interlocking hexagonal sections surround the Castle in a perfect sphere.

 _“Paladins,”_ a distinctly female voice said over the speakers, startling Keithek. _“Enter the hangar. Once you’re all inside, we can free the Black Lion and form Voltron.”_

 _“You got it, pretty lady,”_ Lance trilled earning him a growl from Keithek.

 _“Red paladin,”_ the female voice said. _“I can’t wait to meet you in person. Welcome to the Castle of Lions.”_

 _“Go Team Voltron!”_ the green paladin cheered steering his -her?- Lion into the massive hangar.

The Yellow Lion followed behind and landed next to the Green Lion. Lance flew his Lion in after, setting it down beside the Yellow Lion. Keithek steered his Lion in so he sat down next to Lance’s Blue Lion. The Red Lion lowered its head and the main view screen zoomed in on a small figure standing on the ground facing a huge door at the back of the hangar. The person wore black and white armor with a helmet that hid their features.

 _“Come on Shiro,”_ the yellow paladin cheered. _“You can do this.”_

 _“We believe in you,”_ the green paladin said with equal enthusiasm.

Keithek’s face must have shown confusion because Lance said, _“Shiro’s the Black Lion’s paladin.”_ Keithek turned to look at his mate in his side view screen. _“The Black Lion was locked in the Castle during the Great War to prevent the Galra from getting a hold of it after its paladin was lost. It can only be freed if all the other Lions and their paladins, us, are present.”_

Movement on his main view screen drew Keithek’s attention. He stared in open interest as the huge door slowly slid up and revealed a mechanical Lion that was much larger than any of the other Lions. Keithek lost his breath, stunned by the Black Lion’s sheer size. It was gigantic. Its size was compounded by the two massive wings sprouting from its back. The Black Lion was wholly amazing.

The Red Lion gave an annoyed rumble and Keithek snorted. Just because he was impressed by the Black Lion didn’t mean he preferred it. The Red Lion was _his_. His Lion could out-fly, out-maneuver, and out-do that gigantic windbag easily. The Red Lion preened happily at its paladin’s praise, purring in satisfaction. It brought a chuckle to Keithek’s lips.

“Good kitty,” he purred, rubbing his thumbs over the control handles.

He listened to the Red Lion purr happily as he watched the Black Lion lean down and open its mouth for the black paladin to climb aboard.

“Um,” came a voice from behind Keithek.

Keithek blinked and turned around. Frell, he’d completely forgotten about the refugees. At the reminder, the stench he’d also forgotten slammed into his nose with all its pungent glory. He coughed.

“Right, right,” he grumbled, trying not to hold his nose. “Lance,” he called over his communicator. “I’m letting the refugees out now.”

Lance’s image jolted in shock, and his expression turned awkward. _“Oh yeah. Forgot.”_

Keithek huffed and rolled his eyes, secretly glad he wasn’t the only one who’d forgotten his stinky cargo. He brought his Lion’s head down and opened its mouth. A couple buttons opened the hatch allowing access to the exit. “Climb down and get to the hangar floor,” he ordered the refugees. “Someone’ll come and get you.”

 _“Hey, Coran,”_ Lance called to whoever was operating the castle. _“Keith and I are unloading the refugees in the hangar. They may need the cryopods. Some of them are injured.”_

“Not our fault,” Keithek said quickly.

 _“You said that pretty quick,”_ the yellow paladin said.

 _“Yeah,”_ the green paladin agreed. _“Totally suspicious.”_

 _“Guys,”_ a new male voice interrupted. _“Not now. Keith.”_

Keithek stiffened at his truncated name. It sounded weird coming from someone else’s mouth. “Y-yes?” he answered.

 _“Welcome to the team,”_ the black paladin said warmly.

Keithek felt a smile cross his face.

Then he was blinded by a burst of light and deafened by a thunderous _BANG!_


	14. Blaze of Glory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Allura tries to keep the Castle's crippled defenses up and running, Pidge learns a new curse word, Lance panics, and Hunk is a leg!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Yep, the moment y'all've been waiting for. Voltron makes its debut. Oh what's this about pleas for Allura and Team Voltron's reactions to Keith? Nope, not this chapter. That's the next chapter. Don't worry. I can say for certain because it's already written and uploaded, it just won't be posted until tomorrow. I'm mean and power hungry like that. Have a good read lovelies~
> 
> **Side note:** I'm using Venusian orbit periods (years) as the Altean equivalent of orbit periods(years). So Lance's age is in Venusian years. I'm using the calculator on this website to get that: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/age/  
>  Try calculating your age. I'm 41.3 in Venusian years. XD
> 
> I'll edit this one last time tomorrow morning when I wake up and am a functioning human being. Night~

Allura saw the ion cannon fire mere instants before it struck the Castle’s particle barrier directly. Flames and smoke filled all the view screens but thankfully the barrier held, for now.

“The particle barrier is down to 60%, your highness,” Coran called from his position by the weapons panel.

“Only 60%?” Allura gasped. “That shouldn’t be. The particle barrier should hold against a blast like that for much longer.”

Coran shook his head and looked over his shoulder at her with distress visible on his face. “Maybe 10,000 years ago that was true,” he said. “The paladins are right. We’re working with outdated information.” He turned back to the large main view screen and swallowed nervously. “I fear the Galra’s technology has not only advanced but given a power upgrade as well.” The smoke and flames vanished, revealing the damaged Galra battlecruiser hovering a couple klicks away from the Castle close to the surface of Arus. “We can only hope it still takes a while for that cannon to recharge or we’re goners,” he said.

Allura clenched her jaw and glared at the battlecruiser hatefully. “Not yet, we’re not,” she hissed. She opened a channel to the Lions and spoke. “Paladins,” she said, “I’m going to lower the particle barrier. On my mark, I want all of you to fly to the Galra battlecruiser and form Voltron. I’ll raise the barrier as soon as you’re all clear of the Castle.”

“Princess!” Coran cried in dismay.

“Coran and I will give you cover fire with the Castle’s defenses,” Allura continued, ignoring his advisor’s voice. “But you’ll have to act fast. We aren’t back to full power yet.” She bit her lip. “As it is, the particle barrier can only withstand two more direct hits from the Galra’s ion cannon. You’ll have to form Voltron before the Castle’s barrier is fully depleted. If you don’t,” she gripped the control towers by her side, “then we’ve lost before we’ve even begun.”

 _“Allura,”_ Lance’s voice said through the communicator. He sounded nervous. _“You can trust us,”_ he said loudly, determination filling his voice.

Allura felt a lump form in her throat. Knowing Lance, he was probably afraid but fighting past it with the same proud bluster he showed in every aspect of his life. For Lance’s sake, Allura hoped they could win this battle. She refused to lose her brother when he’d only just returned. She hadn’t even seen him yet. Lance hadn’t seen their father’s memory core.

That thought filled the princess with resolve and cold, calm fury. The Galra had taken practically everything from her. They had defeated her people, murdered her father, indirectly forced her to sleep for 10,000 years, and were now on the verge of possibly murdering her brother and her new paladins. They were her responsibility. She would protect them with everything she had. The Galra would not win this.

She smiled grimly. “I do trust you Lance,” she said. “Now fly out there and make me proud. On my mark.”

 _“We’re ready, princess,”_ Shiro’s voice declared boldly.

Allura’s grin grew. “Mark!” she shouted just as she lowered the particle barrier.

She saw the five Lions flew out of the main hanger into the airspace visible on her view screen. The moment they were clear, she raised the barrier again. Just in time too. Another blast from the Galra’s ion cannon impacted the particle barrier a split-tick after it had reformed. Alarms began blaring as the entire Castle shuddered.

“The barrier is down to 30%,” Coran declared. “Ready to fire on your command, princess.”

Allura removed her hand from the control towers and spread them out over the holographic map hovering directly in front of her. It gave her a three-dimensional view of the battlefield. She was the Castle, and the Galra battlecruiser hovered on the other side of the map new a raised hill by the sea shore. The topography of the holographic map raised in jagged edges indicating differences in altitude and surface type.

She pointed at the battlecruiser, indicating several points on the ship she wanted to be struck by the Castle’s weapons. The Castle didn’t have enough power currently to give a directed blast from its primary weapon without wasting precious ticks charging. They would have to rely on the secondary weapons: blasters of equal power and magnitude to the Lions’ mouth guns. Unfortunately, with the Castle’s systems still not fully functioning after it 10,000 period long slumber, the accuracy of the targeting system was likely compromised. Be that as it may, that didn’t mean Allura wouldn’t give it her best shot.

She may not have her brother’s ability as a sharpshooter, but she was a decent shot. She may miss her intended target, but she would make sure to cause as much collateral damage as possible. The Galra would lose this fight if it killed her.

She glared at her chosen targets glowing blue on the holographic Galra battlecruiser and squared her shoulders. “Fire,” she commanded.

Coran obediently unleashed the Castle’s fury. Most of the targets were missed, but not by much. The damage to the battlecruiser was still notable and with the Lions attacking it as well, it was only a matter of time until the ship was no longer airworthy. Her brow furrowed at the image. She watched as her paladins darted around the Galra battlecruiser on her holographic targeting map in bewilderment.

Why hadn’t they formed Voltron yet? Why were they all attacking as separate entities?

She moved to open a channel when a voice interrupted her.

_“Coran.”_

It was Lance.

“I’m here, Lance,” Coran replied, making sure the Castle guns maintained as much accuracy as they could manage while avoiding the ever moving targets that were the Lions. “A bit busy, but I’m here.”

 _“I know I’m not Allura,”_ Lance began.

Allura blinked in confusion.

_“But I need you to follow my commands as if I were her, alright?”_

_“Lance wha-”_

_“Not now, Hunk,”_ Lance cut off the yellow paladin quickly.

_“Please Coran, I need you to trust me right now.”_

Coran turned to Allura who looked just as flabbergasted as her advisor. She opened her mouth to speak when Lance chimed in again.

 _“I’m sorry Allura’s dead,”_ Lance said and Allura gasped in shock. _“And I know I’m not the ideal, but right now I’m all we’ve got.”_

 _What the quiznak was going on here?_ Allura thought wildly.

 _“Please,”_ Lance continued. _“I’ll explain everything when we defeat these fraking bastards.”_

Allura flushed furiously at her brother’s language but remained quiet. She was beginning to suspect Lance was saying more than he was letting on.

 _“I need you to trust me right now,_ ” Lance said. _“Can you do that?”_

Coran looked at Allura for permission. Still confused but willing to wait and see how this turned out, Allura nodded. She hoped she wouldn’t live to regret this decision. She could always punish her brother later either way.

“I shall endeavor to do my best,” Coran said.

 _“That’s all I need,”_ Lance said sounding relieved.

“I sure hope that boy knows what he’s doing,” Coran muttered after closing the open channel.

Allura bit her lip, silently agreeing with her adviser. But she couldn’t afford to dwell on this little wrinkle though. Right now, she had a Castle to protect and a burgeoning rebellion to spark. She dropped her gaze back to the holographic targeting map and began picking out more targets, taking care to trajectory choose paths that would hopefully have the least impact on her paladins’ movements.

* * *

 

Lance swerved, executing a perfect roll as one of the Castle’s blue bursts of energy skirted past him. He shook his head. _Cutting it a bit close there, sis_ , he thought. Blue grumbled in agreement but continued the fire enthusiastic blasts at the battlecruiser.

He'd taken a risk talking to Coran over the open channel, but he hoped it would pay off. If the Galra had somehow hacked their communications, which was a legitimate possibility since the channel they were currently using to talk to the Castle wasn't secured or encrypted, then they heard Lance confirm Allura's death. Coran sounded confused and Lance could only imagine how bewildered his sister was right now, but thankfully Coran hadn't questioned him. Neither had the other paladins; that had been his biggest worry. However, his fellow paladins seemed to focus on another, more pressing issue at the moment.

Lance listened to his fellow paladins talk to each other over the open channel and bit his lip. He’d refused to drop the video feed from Keith’s Red Lion preventing anyone else from cutting in. He wasn’t sure if revealing the red paladin’s heritage in the middle of a fight against the Galra was a good idea. What they needed to do was form Voltron, defeat these bad guys, and get back to the Castle in one piece. Thing was, no one actually knew how to form Voltron. Worse, they all were operating under the misguided belief that _Lance_ knew how to operate Voltron. How laughable was that?

“Look guys,” Lance said in growing frustration. “For the last time, I do not know how to form Voltron. I wasn’t a paladin until now. I _talked_ to the previous paladins, sure. I was even friends with a few, flirted with all of them. Three even reciprocated.” He grinned when he heard Keith’s audible growl through their video feed. “But they never told me how to form Voltron. I got the feeling it wasn't something that could be learned so much as just...done.”

 _“Well that's helpful. Not. How are we supposed to do this then?”_ Pidge demanded, firing a blast at the Galra that seemed more out of frustration than accuracy since it did little damage.

 _“No idea about that but I do think you should be aware of those fighters over there,"_ Keith said, turning his Lion around to bat away a small fighter that had somehow snuck passed his guard.

 _“Fighters?”_ Shiro gasped.

 _“I’ll try taking out that ion cannon thing,”_ Hunk declared, flying his Yellow Lion straight at the giant gun. " _You guys cover me.”_

 _“We’re on it,”_ Pidge said, flying his Lion around the Yellow Lion and biting down on a fighter that had been encroaching on his friend. _“We’ll cover your butt, Hunk,”_ he said with a snicker.

 _"Why do I detect sarcasm in that statement?”_ Hunk said despairingly.

This was followed by a grunt of surprise. Lance glanced at the map on his right view screen and saw the Yellow Lion flying wildly out into space.

“Hunk,” he called. “Hunk, are you alright?”

The yellow paladin made a few sounds that indicated quite clearly that he was _not_ alright. Lance winced in sympathy. “I guess that thing has a shield,” he said.

 _“Great, just great,”_ the green paladin whined. _“Not what we needed right now. Hunk, you had better not be hurling in that Lion. I am not cleaning up your vomit.”_

 _“Guys,”_ Shiro said. _“Calm down. Let’s try working together. Maybe if we sync up or something, Voltron will just form, and we can take care of the ion cannon then.”_

 _“Right,”_ Hunk said doubtfully, obviously still trying to keep from throwing up. _“And you know this, how?”_

Shiro sighed heavily. _“I **don’t** know,”_ he admitted. “ _But it’s the best idea I’ve got. Unless anyone else has any suggestions.”_

 _“Not suggestions,”_ Keith said, speaking up for the first time. _“But the fighters are definitely getting more aggressive."_   Lance saw Keith grin and lean over his controls eagerly. _"They’re getting desperate. That’s a good thing, I guess.”_

Lance turned his Lion to face the oncoming fighters and groaned. “And how is that a good thing?” he grumbled. “I'm not exactly fit for accurate target practice at the moment, in case you forgot.”

 _“I thought you of all people would jump at the chance to shoot some Galra outta the sky,”_ Pidge said.

Lance glanced at Keith in his side view screen with a grimace. “Let’s just say I’m down an eye right now and leave it at that,” he said.

 _“Down an- What?”_ Shiro gasped.

 _“Lance?! What the hell are you talking about?”_ Hunk demanded urgently.

 _“Nice going, idiot,”_ Keith said. _“That’s the perfect way to freak anyone out.”_

Lance glared at Keith’s image.

 _“He’s got a black eye,”_ Keith explained to the others. _“It’s swollen shut right now. Calm your smegs and focus on the fight.”_

 _“Smeg?”_ Shiro said in surprise.

 _“Smeg?”_ Hunk parroted in confusion. _“What is that?”_

 _“Ooh! Is that another alien curse word? Nice,”_ the green paladin cheer, darting around a couple Galra fighters so the Yellow Lion could literally smash them flat against the battlecruiser’s damaged hull. _“Consider it added to my lexicon.”_

 _“Pidge, please don’t,”_ Shiro said, sounding like a tired father.

 _“I do what I want,”_ Pidge chirped. _“You’re acting like an old man. Spoil sport.”_

Lance blinked, then began cackling. “Old man,” he gasped breathlessly. “Oh, oh frell. Shiro is an old man. That’s hilarious. Alright, that’s it. Shiro, you are now officially dubbed Space Dad.”

 _“No!”_ Shiro cried. _“Definitely not.”_

 _“I’m not against it,”_ Keith said mildly on Lance’s side.

 _“Space Dad,”_ Pidge cheered.

 _“Face it, Shiro,”_ Hunk said with an audible smile. _“You’re officially Space Dad now.”_

 _“Oh my god,”_ Shiro groaned. “ _Lance, you’re technically older than all of us put together.”_

“Semantics,” Lance said, waving his hand with a charismatic smile. “I may be technically older but I’m actually only thirty-four Altean periods old, almost thirty-five. My birthday was in just a few cycles. Besides, I look younger than yo-”

 _“Guys?”_ Keith broke off Lance’s boastful rambling with an expression of growing horror on his face. _“LOOK OUT!”_

The sky glowed a brilliant purple hue as the dreaded ion cannon fired at the Castle of Lions once again. No. They hadn’t been able to form Voltron. They hadn’t been able to stop it. They hadn’t been able to do anything. They had five giant, powerful Lions, and all they could do was watch helplessly as their one stronghold was attacked. They were useless.

“NO!” Lance screamed in dismay, watching in horror as the Castle’s particle barrier took the full force of the direct hit and absorbed it, distributing the power around the Castle. For a moment, Lance held out hope that the barrier would hold. But with a bright flash, the particle barrier vanished. The Castle was defenseless. Coran.

Allura.

Unacceptable!

“Hunk!” he yelled into the speaker, ignoring how Keith winced in the video feed next to him. “The Yellow Lion has the strongest armor out of all the Lions in the pride. This is an order from the Sentinel of the Castle and the Prince of Altea: hit that fraking shield protecting the ion cannon as hard as you can. We’ll back you up. Shiro!”

 _“Got it,”_ the Black Lion’s paladin said, taking charge. _“Hunk, do as he says. The rest of you, concentrate your fire on the shield. If we can take that out, then we can destroy that cannon before it has a chance to destroy the Castle.”_

 _“Don’t have to tell me twice,”_ Hunk said.

Without another word, the Yellow Lion sped up towards the ion cannon at top speed just as the other four Lions fired a synchronized blast of energy at the shield. The purple shield, made of interlocking scale-like patterns, fritzed and sputtered under the onslaught. But it exploded in purple sparks when the Yellow Lion smashed into it with its entire body. It was a welcoming sight that had all the paladins cheering.

Their joy didn’t last long, however. An alarm began wailing in the Blue Lion’s cockpit a tick before Blue began shaking and shuddering. Lance looked up and cursed. By focusing their attention and fire power on the ion cannon’s shield, the Lions had inadvertently gathered in a group that was directly within range of the battlecruiser’s tractor beam which activated that very moment.

“No,” Lance breathed, feeling fear gnaw at his heart. His chest tightened and he felt his grip on the Blue Lion’s controls slip as his hands became sweaty and his body began to shake. “No,” he said louder. “No. I won’t be taken again. Quiznak you! I won’t get captured again!”

He pulled back on his controls and felt the Blue Lion fight against the tractor beam with all her might. But it was no use. They continued to move up towards the battlecruiser. Lance screamed and continued to struggled against the pull.

_“Lance!”_

He caught his breath, feeling slightly dizzy. He was hyperventilating, he realized distantly. He felt detached and yet completely present. He was having a panic attack.

_“Lance, look at me!”_

Reacting instinctively to the spoken command, Lance turned to the side view screen where Keith was staring at him. Lance could see the eerie purple glow in the Red Lion’s cockpit through the video feed and knew the halfbreed had also been caught in the tractor beam.

 _“Lance, listen to me,”_ Keith said, grunting as he held onto his Lion’s controls with all his strength. _“We won’t get captured again, I promise. Remember what you said when we rescued those prisoners?”_

Lance was still breathing hard and his thoughts were jumbled and racing too fast for him to think clearly. He shook his head in short, quick movements.

 _“You said you’d kill me before they caught us, if that’s what I wanted,”_ Keith said.

Lance swallowed over his dry throat and nodded. He vaguely remembered that.

 _“I said I would prefer that,”_ Keith continued. _“I’ll kill you too if you want me to.”_ The halfbreed flashed Lance a weary smile. _“I mean, it’s not like I could live long without you anyway.”_

A fluttery laugh escape the Blue paladin’s mouth, the faintest hint of hysteria tinging its edges.

 _“No!”_ Shiro shouted angrily. _“No one is dying today. **We** can’t die today. Not now. We are the universe’s only hope. If we lose this, the Galra will win and everyone we love will die. We won’t lose. I refuse to lose. I  **refuse!** ”_

 _“Then,”_ Hunk said hesitantly, _“what do you want us to do?”_

 _“Fight it,”_ Shiro commanded. _“Don’t let them win. We’re stronger than this. We can do this. We won’t lose. Not today. Not ever!”_

A flood of blue tinted energy suddenly overwhelmed Lance’s mind, drowning him and sustaining him. For that miraculous moment, he _was_ the Blue Lion. And boy was she pissed. She looked up at the tractor beam’s origin and gave a deafening roar of defiance echoed by her fellow Lions. The pride would not be captured today.

Purple energy began to fill the pipe leading to the battlecruiser’s ion cannon as it began to power up. One more shot from that and the Castle of Lions, every Lance knew and loved, everything, would be blown away. He would be alone. Forever. He didn’t want to be alone. Blue growled in his mind. She wouldn’t _let_ him be alone.

With a power Lance never knew the Lions had, the pride broke free of the tractor beam and began to fly in formation. The blue energy surrounded the Blue Lion, enveloping both him and his Lion until all he could see and hear was blue. The Blue Lion was flying, he realized in shock. Lance wasn’t in control, Blue was. He released the controls and watched in wonder as his Lion changed its form. Blue darted down underneath the Black Lion and next to the Yellow Lion, jolting into place. His Lion rumbled in approval and the blue energy faded leaving Lance dazed and disoriented as if he was coming down from a high from eating too many juniberries at once.

He blinked and realized his screens had shifted slightly. Keith was still visible in his left side view screen and the coordinate map with its many flashing signals was still lit and demanding his attention on the right view screen. But the main view screen now showed a gigantic Altenoid robot in the lower left corner with glowing indicators surrounding it. One flashed the amount of damage they had taken: none so far. Another series of letters indicated the greatest possible power output they were currently capable of dishing out, and another few circle charts glowed, showing the synchronization rate between the paladins and their Lions, as well as the paladins and each other.

But what captured Lance’s full attention was the Altean letters scrawled above the Altenoid robot’s schematics in bright, vibrant blue: Voltron.

“We did it,” he breathed. “We did it.” He laughed. “We _did it!”_

 _“Holy shit!”_ Pidge cried.

 _“Incredible,”_ Keith said, an ecstatic smile on his face.

 _“We formed Voltron!”_   Shiro exclaimed in surprised disbelief.

 _“I’m a **leg!** ”_ Hunk cried joyfully.

 _“Stop that cannon!”_ Shiro shouted.

Lance snapped to attention and pushed his controls, powering Voltron up to the Altenoid robot hit the battlecruiser’s hull and kept pushing. The sky turned purple again and Lance feared the worst. He quickly scanned his coordinate map view screen and laughed in relief when he saw the Castle’s bold turquoise signal still pulsing with life. It was still there. Allura was still there. Coran was still there. His home was still there.

They’d done it. They’d saved the Castle and everything Lance loved. Blue grumbled in his mind and Lance chuckled. Well, if they’d lost the Castle, Lance honestly doubted they would’ve won this battle and the Galra would have separated him and Blue. The Lion snarled but grudgingly agreed with that logic.

They’d saved the Castle. Now it was time to end this. Apparently everyone else was of the same mind.

 _“Alright guys,”_ Shiro’s voice came over the speakers, eager and excited. _“Let’s do this!”_

 _“Oh yeah!”_ Pidge shouted.

Together, the paladins flew Voltron up above the battlecruiser and fired a blast from the Red and Green Lions which currently served as Voltron’s right and left arms respectively. Lance, as the right leg, helped keep the robot balanced with Hunk, the left leg. Voltron flew straight at the hateful ion cannon, grabbing it and ripping it right off the battlecruiser in the middle of its power up cycle. The resulting overload of energy that no longer had anywhere to go exploded. Voltron tossed the ion cannon, now a useless piece of space junk, into the ocean where it would sink and be crushed by the water pressure, never to be used again.

Next, Voltron pounced on the battlecruiser’s thoroughly damaged hull and punched a hole right through the top with its right arm, the Red Lion, and fired a beam of energy from the Lion’s mouth once it was inside the hull. The beam burst through the metal, piercing all the way through the hull and blowing it to smithereens. Voltron did the same maneuver with its left arm, the Green Lion, firing a similar blast from that Lion’s mouth directly into the command tower of the battlecruiser.

The giant, intimidating Galra battlecruiser no longer resembled a spaceship capable of decimating its enemies. It was now an exploding, burning pile of crumbled metal. Or it was for all of three ticks. Then it was an enormous fireball that shone brighter than the planet’s parent star for several ticks before the remaining bits and pieces of smoking debris fell like sad rain to the planet’s surface and ocean.

 _“Woah,”_ Keith’s voice murmured in awestruck wonder through the open communications channel.

Lance nodded in agreement, currently speechless by the sight.

 _“Guys,”_ Hunk said softly. _“I-I think we won.”_

 _“I… Yeah I think we did,”_ Pidge agreed, sounding just as stunned.

 _“We did it,”_ Shiro said, a smile in his voice. _“We won.”_


	15. Feverish Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a victory is finally achieved, Pidge is the first one to suspect something more, the long-awaited introductions happen, Lance is an incurable tease, and Allura takes it all in like a true diplomat, for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Welp, this is it. This is the chapter y'all have been waiting for. The reactions. Some of them may not be what you expected, some may be exactly what you expected, and some may be different now from what they actually are. Diplomats are politicians after all. In public, they're calm and carefully word everything. Behind closed doors though, the masks are removed. In short, fear Allura.
> 
> I'll edit this fully tomorrow morning. Night~

Lance began laughing. It was all too much. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. He kept laughing even after his stomach began to cramp up and his fellow paladins started to sound concerned for his mental health. He simply couldn’t believe it. They’d done it. They’d won. They’d saved the Castle and Allura.

Allura.

He pressed a button on the controls and called, “Coran! Coran, did you see that? We _won!”_

 _“I most certainly did,”_ the advisor replied sounding just as exhilarated as the paladins felt. _“Now get your quiznaks back here so I can hug the lot of you.”_

Lance snickered but it was Keith who spoke. “I don’t think you’re using that word correctly,” he said wryly.

“Oh shut your quiznak Keith,” Lance said with a teasing glance at the video feed on his left. Keith stared at him with an expression that was a hilarious mix of amusement and incredulity. “You’re just jealous that I’m more awesome than you.”

 _“Hardly,”_ Keith said snippily.

“Ooh, touchy-touchy this morning,” Lance said.

 _“I think it’s evening actually,”_ Hunk threw in there helpfully.

“Thank you Hunk. Touchy-touchy this evening, Keith,” Lance said, with another wink-blink-thing. “I think you're jealous.”

 _“Wha- Why the frell would I be jealous?”_ Keith said, flinching away from the video feed with a flush in his pale purple cheeks.

 _“Um, are you two flirting?”_ Pidge asked suspiciously.

Lance grinned. “Let’s break up and go see Allura, guys,” he said to the other paladins. “I need to see me some pretty lady.”

 _“I can agree with that,”_ Shiro said.

The Lions disengaged and Lance shook his head, momentarily thrown by the loss of whatever energy had been flowing through him while they were merged as Voltron. His screens returned to their normal layout and he smiled.

 _“Last one there is a rotten egg,”_ Pidge crowed and blasted off towards the Castle’s main hangar.

 _“Hey!”_ Hunk cried in dismay. _“Totally not fair. You had a head start.”_

 _“Coran did promise us food if we won,”_ Shiro added with a chuckle.

_“Make way for the Hunk!”_

And the Yellow Lion blasted away, speeding past the Green Lion with startling speed to park securely in the hangar.

 _“What? How did you do that?”_ Pidge said.

 _“Pidge is a rotten egg!”_ Hunk crowed triumphantly behind climbing out of his Lion.

Shiro’s laughter echoed through the speakers. _“Wait up, Hunk,”_ he said, following the Green Lion at a much more sedate pace. _“Let’s go check on Coran and the princess on the bridge first.”_

“Good idea,” Lance said suddenly. “You guys go on ahead. Keith and I will catch up.”

 _“It’s no trouble,”_ Shiro said. _“We can wait.”_

All of the worry that Lance had not realized he should’ve felt about this situation suddenly came crashing onto him. He paled and gulped, glancing nervously at Keith through their shared video feed. Keith looked just as nervous, but there was an edge of determination and pride that gave Lance the encouragement he need.

“Fine,” he said. “Wait for us in the hangar. We’ll join you as soon as we land.”

 _“Sounds good,”_ Shiro said. _“Meet you on the ground.”_

Lance cut off his connection to the open channel and turned to Keith. “You ready?” he asked.

Keith narrowed his eyes, the violet irises gleamed starkly against the yellow distinctive of the Galra race. His furry ears were folded back against his head revealing his anxiety, but the grim set of his mouth showed no signs of him backing out. That was all the answer Lance needed.

“Alright,” he said, nodding. “Let’s get this over with.”

Together the red and blue paladin flew down to land in the hangar next to Hunk Yellow Lion. Lance turned off all of the Blue Lion’s systems and waited for Blue to lower her head and open her mouth. The trap door in the floor slid open revealing the way to the ramp in Blue’s mouth. He took a deep breath and pasted a proud smile on his face before strolling down the ramp as if he had no care in the world.

“Hey guys?” he said, throwing out his arms dramatically. “Miss me?”

“Lance!” Hunk cried.

Lance had just enough time to brace himself for impact before the yellow paladin’s impressive mass smashed into him full force. But it was useless. Lance promptly crumbled to the ground beneath Hunk’s weight. He coughed but still managed to laugh despite his lack of air.

“Hey there bro,” he said. “Sorry, but you have to get off me. Can’t breathe.”

“Gah! Sorry.” The yellow paladin quickly got to his feet, offering a hand to help the Altean prince up. When Lance lifted his head into the light, Hunk’s eyes grew round. “Holy cow!”

Now the mothering Lance feared would happen. He flushed and laughed self-consciously.

“That’s some shiner you got there, man,” Pidge said, scampering up next to Hunk and standing on his tip-toes to get a better look at Lance’s bruised and swollen right eye. “What did you do?”

Lance groaned and sulked. “I like that. I come home with a black eye and you automatically assume it’s my fault,” he said.

“Did something you did cause it?” Pidge asked smartly.

“Well,” Lance said thoughtfully, “yeah. But in my defense, Zarkon deserved it, so-”

“Zarkon?!” Shiro said, shock plainly visible on his face. “You _saw_ him?”

Lance’s face grew serious. “Yeah, I did. A lot happened while I was away. I’ll explain everything once I see Allura. She needs to know what’s going on.”

“Yeah, I think she does.”

Lance gave Shiro an odd look when he heard to cold edge in the black paladin’s voice, but Shiro’s gaze wasn’t focused on him. It was trained on something over Lance’s shoulder. Lance turned slowly around. A part of him knew what he would see, but he sincerely hoped the subject of the black paladin’s obvious anger wasn’t who he thought it was.

He had horrendous luck, it seemed.

There, standing on the ramp in the Red Lion’s mouth, was Keith. The halfbreed looked absolutely astonished. Keith's tufted ears were fully erect and facing forward, his black pupils had dilated to the point they almost completely devoured the violet irises, and he had adopted a fight-or-flight pose that significantly leaned towards the flight option. The red paladin was staring straight at the black paladin with fear and recognition.

“Champion,” Keith whispered in a shaky voice.

“Galra,” Shiro said in calm fury.

“Galra?” Hunk echoed in shock.

“You two know each other?” Lance said, looking between Keith and Shiro.

* * *

 

Keithek’s gaze wavered, dropping to Shiro’s mechanical arm then back up to the black paladin’s face just in time to see the first signs of attack. He moved to duck and draw his hidden dagger when his sight was suddenly blocked by an eyeful of Lance’s buttocks. Normally that sight wouldn’t bother him all that much, but in this situation it was a bit unexpected.

“Shiro, stand down,” Lance ordered in a cool, clipped tone.

Shiro was breathing hard and his eyes were vacant. A buzzing sound Keithek recognized from the few times he’d seen the Champion fight in the arena with his superiors filled his ears, and he shuddered. He’d seen what that Druid-made weapon could do. He knew what the Champion was capable of: death and destruction the likes of which even the Galra were impressed by. Keithek would be no match for the Champion even if he was in the best shape, which he wasn’t at the moment.

More importantly, Lance was currently standing between him and the Champion, challenging the Champion head-on. For Keithek. Lance, who wasn’t an alpha, who had only been mated to Keithek through a coincidence that should have resulted in both of their deaths, who had been the trigger for Keithek to finally escape that hellhole of a battlecruiser, who had offered Keithek another, better reason to live. Lance, who was his mate, was standing between Keithek and a threat.

That was not something the alpha within him could stand.

Keithek snarled and yanked Lance behind him, placing himself between his mate and the Champion. “Leave him alone,” he growled furiously. “You want to fight, Champion? You fight with me. Leave Lance out of it.”

The black paladin bared his teeth and Keithek returned the threat with his own, adding in a snarl just because he could. The Champion was taller and bulkier than Keithek, but the halfbreed was probably quicker. Probably. Not.

“Keith, no,” Lance said, grabbing Keithek’s shoulders and trying to pulled the halfbreed aside so he step back between them. Keithek shook off his mate’s hands, making sure to stay between him and the Champion when Lance tried to step around him. Keithek was an alpha. An alpha would never let harm come to their mates if they could help it, ever.

“Shiro,  _stop!”_ another voice shouted.

Keithek blinked and suddenly Pidge was there hanging onto the Champion’s mechanical arm trying to pull it down with his weight. Hunk had wrapped his large arms around the Champion’s entire torso, locked his hands together over the Champion’s armored chest, and was squeezing with all his might.

“Shiro, knock it off!” Hunk shouted.

“What’re you doing?” Pidge cried, swinging his legs and bouncing in a steady rhythm that had the Champion’s weaponized arm bouncing up and down. As long as Pidge held on, the Champion wouldn’t be able to get in a well-placed hit on Keithek. Of course, if Hunk managed to keep the Champion’s arms pinned by his sides, then Keithek had a better chance at coming out of this alive. It wasn’t a much better chance, but it _was_ better.

“That’s enough!” a voice Keithek recognized as Allura from the brief communication he’d had with her. “Shiro, what are you doing?”

“Allura!” Lance cried.

Keithek muttered a curse when his mate somehow escaped from safety behind him and began running across the hangar to _embrace_ the new arrival. Embrace and _kiss!_ Now that was just not acceptable.

Thankfully, Allura’s voice had somehow shaken the Champion from whatever mindset he’d been locked in. The black paladin was blinking and dazed. Keithek stiffened, unsure what would happen now. Keithek's eyes skittered between the Champion who had slumped in the yellow paladin’s arms, the Champion's mechanical arm which now hung de-activated by his side, and his mate who was _still hugging that woman!_

“Shiro?” Pidge asked carefully. “What happened?”

“I…” The Champion gave a full body shudder. “I’m not…sure.” He blinked and actually _looked_ at Keithek still crouched defensively in front of him. His eyebrows drew down in befuddlement. “You… You’re a halfbreed, aren’t you?” the Champion asked, sounding unsure of himself.

Keithek tensed. “What of it?” he snapped, still high strung and waiting to be attacked.

But the Champion shook his head. “It’s okay, Hunk,” he said. “I’m fine right now. Really,” he added when the yellow paladin didn’t release him right away.

“You had an episode didn’t you?” Hunk asked grimly.

The Champion looked at the bulkier paladin in surprise before slumping in defeat. “I saw Keith and I just… I saw the arena again and I…” He sighed and lifted his eyes to Keithek’s sadly, offering a broken smile. “I-I’m sorry for my behavior. I hope you can forgive me.”

Keithek’s ears twitched, mirroring the uncertainty he felt. He jolted when the Champion extended his mechanical hand in what appeared to be a peaceful gesture. The Champion’s eyes became even sadder, but he withdrew the hand and offered out his other instead.

“I’m Shiro,” the Champion said. “It’s good to finally meet you face-to-face. I really am sorry for my behavior." The black paladin bowed slightly at the waist as he spoke. "What I did was incredibly rude and uncalled for.”

Keithek eased out of his defensive crouch and, after a moment’s consideration, took the offered flesh-and-blood hand. “I...Keithek,” he said simply. "I'm Keithek."

Hunk’s eyebrows lowered in confusion. “I thought your name was-”

“That idiot Altean refuses to call me by my full name,” Keithek said, huffing in frustration that he didn’t really feel.

“Yes, that does sound like Lance,” Allura said, joining the group with Lance _still clinging to her_ and another red-haired man Keithek assumed was Coran. Keithek glared at his mate who just grinned back unrepentantly. Keithek started at his mate's defiance and sniffed in annoyance. Lance was going to pay dearly for this later. He’d make sure of it.

“I’m Allura,” Allura said, offering both of her hands with a guileless smile. “You’ve met Lance,” she said, nodding to Keithek’s mate who was _still hugging her -was that **another** kiss?!- _ with a fond smile that rubbed Keithek in all the wrong ways.

Keithek took both of Allura’s hands firmly in his and squeezed perhaps a bit harder than he should have but Allura didn’t complain.

“This is Shiro, the Black Lion’s paladin,” Allura continued with the introductions with the ease of a practiced diplomat, “Pidge, the Green Lion’s paladin, and Hunk, the Yellow Lion’s paladin.”

“And I’m Coran,” the red-haired man said, reaching out and giving Keithek an enthusiastic pat on the back. “Resident advisor and jack-of-all-trades I guess. It’s an honor to meet a Galra halfbreed.”

Keithek stiffened. “An honor?” he repeated, completely thrown.

“Oh yes,” Coran said. “The Galra are known for their purist take on racism. To find such a rare specimen as yourself is a gift indeed. So much to study!”

Keithek edged away from the man, suddenly wishing he was anywhere but stuck under this crazy Altean’s gaze. He’d even prefer to be back in one of Commander Sendak’s prisons. Maybe. Okay, maybe not. But still!

“Coran,” Allura chided mildly. The Altean woman turned back to Keithek and bit her lip.

There. That was what Keithek had expected to see. Allura was definitely trained as an ambassador or mediator of some kind. She was skilled at hiding her inner thoughts and feelings, but so was Keithek. It was practically a requirement to survive in the Galra army, or the Galra race in general. That one slip was a shout in Keithek’s ears.

Allura did not particularly like him. Considering how Lance was still holding onto Allura’s body like a child clinging to its mother, Keithek had to admit he felt didn't like Allura much at the moment either.

“Keithek,” he said, pulling his hands back and glaring at Lance. “I saved that idiot’s life.”

“Why?” Pidge chimed in. “I mean no offense, but you’re a Galra.”

“Halfbreed, actually,” the Champion corrected.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Pidge asked, honestly confused.

“As Coran said, the Galra are purists,” the Champion explained. “A halfbreed would be seen as a blot on their otherwise perfect race.”

“Purple space Nazis,” Pidge said, nodding as if that explained everything. “Gotcha.”

"Glad I'm not the only one who's been thinking that," Hunk muttered.

“How did you come to pilot the Red Lion?” Coran asked, studying Keithek with more interest than the halfbreed preferred.

“The Galra had it,” Lance said, speaking up finally. He released his hold on Allura and stepped forward. But he didn’t let go of the woman’s hand, Keithek noticed with disgust.

Lance didn't look at Keithek right away, choosing instead to look at the paladins as he spoke. “It’s entirely possible they were scanning Khonsu looking for the Blue Lion when Hunk and I stumbled on them. Look,” Lance said awkwardly, glancing back at Allura with a loving gaze that sent flames of jealous licking up Keithek’s spine, “this has been a long day and I’m not exactly feeling okay.”

Lance fingered his still swollen eye and Allura frowned and began fretting over him. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Coran and I will take care of this.”

Keithek breathed a deep sigh of relief and immediately felt his legs begin to wobble. Oddly enough, his hand also began to ache. He blinked and stared down at his hand like it was going to bite him. It was black and blue and swollen. Keithek’s eyes widened in shock.

“Ow,” he said in surprise.

At his accidental exclamation of pain, Lance instantly focused his attention on Keithek. His one eye bulged when he saw the state of Keithek’s hand. “What- What did you do to yourself?” he cried. “ _When_ did you do this to yourself? _How_ did you do this to yourself?” he demanded.

“I…I don’t know?” Keithek muttered in surprise. “I didn’t even notice it until now.”

“Adrenaline,” Pidge said suddenly.

“Pidge is right,” the Champion said, nodding in agreement. “You probably didn’t feel it because you’ve been running on adrenaline. Honestly, I’d be surprised if both of you weren’t running on _just_ adrenaline right about now.”

Lance blinked and looked up at Keithek in shock. “Adrenaline," he mumbled. "Right." He wobbled. "What the frell?” he breathed.

Keithek just shook his head and shrugged helplessly. He had no idea what was happening either.

Lance nodded absently. “It’s over,” he murmured. “We won. I guess… We can relax now.” He nodded again and promptly collapsed limply in Keithek’s arms.

The red paladin staggered under the unexpected weight. “Frak,” he grunted. "You're heavy."


	16. Pyretic Tempers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there's no fight like a sibling fight, especially when its unsuspecting participants have an audience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I did say Allura's temper was big enough to deserve a full chapter? I lied. It's big enough to deserve TWO full chapters. This is just the first part. I don't care what anyone says. Allura is a BAMF. Especially in the next chapter. I freakin' love this lady.

When Lance collapsed, Allura hurried to his side and helped the red paladin hold him up. “Are you alright?” she asked.

Lance nodded weakly. “Yeah, I’m just,” he hesitated, searching for the right word, “relieved. And I am not heavy."

Keithek rolled his eyes. He glared at the princess and hauled Lance up so the prince was leaning heavily on his shoulder without Allura’s help.

“We need to get you to a healing pod,” Coran said, bustling forward to take the prince from Keithek’s arms. Surprisingly, the red paladin hissed and turned so that he stood between Coran and Lance. Startled by the move, Coran hesitated.

“I’ll take him,” Keithek said calmly. “Lead the way.”

“Alri-”

“No!” Lance cried suddenly, struggling to stand straight on his own. He staggered but caught himself before the red paladin could catch him. “No,” he said more calmly. “I’m fine. I’ll just rest for a bit.”

“We need to be sure your wounds aren’t serious,” Allura said in a tone that brokered no argument. “You too, Keithek.”

“Call him Keith,” Lance said with a tired grin.

“Keith, then,” Allura said with a graceful nod.

“Hey!” Keithek said.

“I don’t need a pod,” Lance reiterated seriously. “I’m fine.”

“You have a black eye,” Allura said in the same tone.

“It’s not bad.”

“It’s swollen shut.”

“It’ll heal.”

“You also have a cut on your neck.”

Lance tensed, his hand twitching in an aborted movement. “It’s not deep. Just a nick.”

“You’re delirious.”

Lance bristled. “I’m fine,” he insisted, beginning to sound annoyed.

“You need to be seen too,” Allura said, folding her hands primly in front of her and maintaining a calm, cool façade. “So does Keith. His hand could very well be broken.”

“Then set the wound and let him use the healing pod,” Lance said, gesturing to the red paladin in frustration. “A broken hand is more serious than a black eye.”

“Lance-”

“Allura-”

“If I may,” Coran intruded, speaking loudly to be heard over the royal siblings’ argument. He stepped between them and placed a hand on their shoulders in a placating manner. “Why don’t we move this inside. It’s getting dark out here and I think everyone deserves a good, hearty meal after so much excitement.”

He flashed a smile at the other paladins easing them from their discomfort from witnessing the prince and princess arguing. “All of you go get cleaned up while I cook us a nice, tasty meal,” Coran continued. “We’ll all sleep with full bellies tonight, hm?”

The advisor waited with bated breath for several ticks before Lance’s shoulder began to droop. When the prince gave way, Allura soon followed.

“Very well,” the princess said. “I’ll show all of you to your rooms. Feel free to make use of the facilities there. I’ll join you at dinner.”

“Yes,” Coran said, waving his hand and starting to walk out of the Lions’ main hanger and into the Castle itself. “Take your time. I’ll need time to whip up something fantastic after all.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, a small smile tugging at his lips. “A shower does sound good right about now.”

“Wait,” Keith said. “What about the refugees we brought with us earlier? Where are they?”

“Oh don’t worry,” Coran said, waving away the red paladin’s concern. “They're all sleeping soundly in the healing pods. Some of their injuries were old, so there’s not much we can do except make them comfortable, but the newer wounds should heal sufficiently. Either way, they should be ready to be taken to the nearest trade outpost after a brief checkup when they wake.”

“If they wake,” Lance muttered.

Coran chose to ignore than comment and continuing moving forward with a bright smile on his face. He was proud to say he held that smile in place the whole time while Allura showed each paladin to their personal quarters in the Castle. The red paladin was the last to be escorted to his quarters before the royal siblings could go to their own rooms.

Curiously, Keith hesitated before going into his new room. His unusual eyes stared directly at Lance with an unreadable expression for several ticks, his ears perked and twitching curiously. Lance gave a minute shake of his head to which Keith nodded and entered his room without a word, the door hissing shut behind him. Well, well. There was definitely a story there. Coran always did love a good story.

Unfortunately, he would have to wait a bit for that. The moment the red paladin entered his room, the atmosphere in the hallway immediately became cold and prickly. It was no secret where the sudden change in mood originated from. A quick glance at the two royal siblings was proof enough of that. Nevertheless, Coran dutifully followed Lance and Allura to their respective rooms.

They stopped at Lance’s chambers first. But when the prince entered his room, Allura pushed past Coran and walked into the room as well. Coran heard Lance give an offended cry before Allura shut the door behind her and locked it, effectively locking her and her brother alone in the room.

“What do you want, Allura?” Lance’s voice, muffled by the locked door, filtered out to Coran’s eager ears.

“What was that?” Allura demanded.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play that game with me,” the princess snapped. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Can I at least do it _after_ I take a shower?”

“No,” Allura said. “You’ll tell me now.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” Lance countered, sounding slightly offended. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“I’m the oldest royal heir-”

“The oldest _still alive_ ,” Lance quipped.

Even Coran winced at that particular barb. He shamelessly crouched by the door and pressed his ear to the metal so he could better hear what was being said. He was the royal adviser, after all. How could he properly advise if he didn’t know all of the inner workings of the Castle and its inhabitants?

* * *

 

“That was uncalled for,” Allura said coldly. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she stood stiffly, unyielding to her brother verbal assault. “That was neither of our faults.”

“Yeah, that you know of,” Lance said.

“That I-” Allura stared at her brother incredulously. “Lance that was an act of war perpetrated by the Galra. I should know, I was there.”

“Yeah, well _so was I_ ,” Lance countered, glaring at his older sister. “That’s not even the tip of the iceberg, Allura. You don’t know anything and yet here you are, standing there like you own the place-”

“I _do_ own the place,” Allura said firmly.

Lance pointed to her viciously. “That- That’s just it. You _think_ you do, but you _don’t.”_ He laughed incredulously. “You may be the Heir, but I’m the Sentinel. I have just as much authority as you do. In some areas I have _more_ authority than you do.”

“Says who?” Allura demanded.

“Says Father,” Lance shot back. “Says the people of Altea when they voted you as the next Heir and me as the next Sentinel. Says tradition. Says _everything_ I’ve been raised to believe.” He took a deep breath and bit his tongue to stop his furious tirade. “You are _not_ above me.”

“And you’re not above me,” the princess countered.

“No, you’re right, I’m not,” Lance agreed. “And I never once pretended to be.”

“You pushed me into a cryopod!”

“Because Father ordered me to!” Lance yelled. “He _ordered_ me to. I did exactly as I was told. Then he threw me in one and the next thing I know, I’m in this fraking future-”

“Language, Lance.”

Lance fumed, wrapping his hands in tight fists. “Oh, will you shut your quiznack!”

“You’re not the only one suffering here, Lance,” Allura said sternly.

“I know that. I’m not stupid.”

“Then stop acting like it.”

“Loo- You know? No. No, no, no. Frak you.” He stomped right up to his sister and held a finger in her face and felt intense frustration when she didn’t even flinch. “I get captured by the Galra, find the red paladin _and_ the missing Red Lion which _you couldn’t find_ , and then I miraculously escape, help form Voltron -fraking _Voltron!_ \- and you’re _mad_ at me.”

“I’m not mad at you,” the princess said, still somehow keeping her calm.

Lance threw his hands up in the air. “Yes you _are!_   Fine, fine. You know what? Alright. I’ll play your game. You’re not mad at me. But you _are_ mad at Keith. Don’t think I didn’t miss your little tell,” he warned with a sharp glare. “You were judging Keith from the moment you saw him.”

“So were the other paladins.”

“I’m not _talking_ about the other paladins,” Lance scream furiously. “I’m talking about _you_. You’re the princess, the Heir, the diplomat, the ambassador, the peacemaker. You’re the _last_ person who should be judging someone else based on something they can’t help. Especially something as superfluous as their appearance. Alteans are the absolute _last_ ones to be judging another race for their appearance. We change ours regularly.”

Allura rolled her shoulders and tipped her head forwards, the only sign Lance’s words were getting through. “Shiro reacted badly, too.”

“He has an excuse,” Lance countered. “He was held captive by the Galra for at least a year. Whatever he experienced was bad enough for him to lock away his memories of the whole ordeal. He admitted to fighting in an arena, Allura. Did you hear that part? He fought in an _arena_ like a wild animal.”

“I _did_ hear that,” Allura said, anger finally breaking through her immaculate mask. “But I also have a legitimate excuse to be judgmental here.”

“Oh really?” Lance drawled. “Then pray tell, princess. What’s your oh-so-worthy excuse?”

Allura glared furiously at her brother. “I was there when Zarkon betrayed us. I was there when the Great War began. I was _there_ when we got word of the attack on Altea. I have _just_ as much excuse to judge as Shiro,” she said, uncrossing her arms. “I have an even _better_ excuse.”

“Oh for- This isn’t a competition, Allura,” Lance groaned, turning away from his sister and stalking towards his bed.

“Oh no?” the princess said, finally showing her anger. “Then _what_ is it then? You’re behaving like a child.”

“ _I’m_ behaving like a child?” Lance gasped, turning back to his sister with a hand over his chest. “I’m not the one judging another person based on their race. _Half_ a race, actually. We don’t even know what his other half is. That- That doesn’t even matter,” he said, holding up his hands to stave off that particular line of argument. “What _does_ matter is that you’re acting extremely childish in a time when you shouldn’t be.”

“I am not!”

“I’m sorry to break it to you here, but yes, you are,” Lance said, meeting his sister glare for glare. “I get back with the red paladin and the missing Red Lion, the _same_ red paladin and Red Lion that formed Voltron not five tecks ago, and you’re already against him joining us. Based on what? His skin color? His ears? His eyes? What? If it’s not his race, then what is it? Why don’t you like him, Allura? Please,” he crossed his arms, “enlighten me.”

“I…” Allura bit her lip guiltily. She forced herself to take a deep breath and examine her feelings to both calm herself and focus her thoughts. “Alright,” she admitted carefully. “I admit I was a bit…hasty at judging him, and for that I _am_ sorry.”

Lance nodded but didn’t relax his stance.

“But you still left.”

“What?” Lance asked, now thoroughly confused.

“You _left._ ”

Thrown, Lance thought back to the events over the past few cycles -periods?- trying to figure out what Allura was referring to. “You mean when Hunk and I went to find the Blue Lion?” he asked incredulously.

“You were supposed to find the Blue Lion and come back,” Allura said, fisting her hands and holding herself as stiff as a board. “But you _didn’t._ ”

“Yes, I did,” Lance said, still unable to believe what he was hearing. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“Not when Hunk and Pidge went back to get you, you weren’t,” Allura said fiercely. “I thought you were _gone._ I thought I’d _lost_ you! For _good_ this time.”

Lance wilted as he finally began to understand what had sparked this whole mess to begin with. “Allura…”

“No,” the princess said sharply, cutting him off. “No. Don’t ‘Allura’ me. I’m not alright and neither are you. I thought the Galra had captured you and I’d never see you again. I just lost my planet, my race, my,” she choked on a sob, “my father…” Tears began streaming down her face as Lance watched in helpless disbelief. “And now I was going to lose you too.”

“But you didn’t lose me,” Lance said, stepping closer to his sister to gently grasp her arms. “I’m back now. I never meant to leave in the first place. Believe me, I would much rather have come back without any trouble at all. But…” he sighed. “But if that hadn't happened, if I hadn't been captured, then the Red Lion would still be under Galra control and the red paladin would probably never have been found.”

Allura nodded. “I know,” she said. “I _know_ but-”

“It doesn’t make it better,” Lance finished.

“No it doesn’t,” Allura yelled in frustration. “And now you won’t even get into a healing pod to take care of your wounds.”

“They’re minor,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “It’s just a swollen eye, a tiny cut, and a few bruises. Keith’s hand is broken. He needs the pod more than I do.”

“You _both_ need healing pods,” the princess insisted. “Why won’t you just let it heal you? It shouldn’t take longer than a few tecks at most.”

Lance pursed his lips and avoided his sister’s pleading gaze. “I just don’t want to,” he said.

“Not good enough,” Allura said, crossing her arms. For a moment, Lance saw their father in her and a heavy sadness pressed against his chest.

“Too bad,” he said, his voice curt from the unexpected wave of emotion.

“No, not ‘too bad,’” Allura said. “Tell me. Why won’t you get in the healing pod? Clearly it’s not the time since this wouldn’t take more than a few tecks. You’ve never been afraid of enclosed spaces before. So what is it?”

Lance glared at his sister before looking out his bedroom’s window at the almost set sun overlooking the vast ocean of Arus. He was really getting sick and tired of oceans.

“Lance,” Allura said. “Tell me, please. Why won’t you just-”

“How do you know I’ll wake up?” Lance snapped, facing his sister directly.

The princess looked taken aback. “What? Of course you’ll wake up,” she said.

“Really?” Lance pressed. “Can you guarantee that?” He shook his head. “Okay, you know what, let’s say you’re right. Let’s say I do wake up. Can you guarantee it’ll be in a few tecks? How do you know it won’t be a full period or a thousand periods or even a million periods from now? How do I know I’ll wake up and you’ll still be here?” He poked his sister’s collar bone with his finger and said forcefully, “Can you guarantee I won’t be alone if- and that’s a _big_ ‘if’ by the way- I wake up, I won’t be alone?” He was panting now. “Can you _promise_ me I won’t be alone?” he demanded. “Can you _promise_ me?”

Allura eyes were wide and watery. The siblings had studiously avoided talking about their long slumber in anything but the most abstract of ways since they woke up because they had other things to worry about. They were good reasons that needed their attention; but neither sibling realized how deep their long sleep had affected them until now.

Allura shook her head and Lance’s gaze dropped.

“I can promise you,” Allura said, drawing her brother’s gaze back up to hers. “Because if you don’t wake up on your own after a full cycle and I can’t wake you up by force,” she swallowed and stared her brother down bravely, “then I’ll join you.”

Lance’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’ll join you and have Coran mirror our pods,” she said. “If you wake up, I’ll wake up. If you die,” she sniffed and shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself in self-comforting gesture, “then I’ll die. I will _not_ be alone. I won’t let you be alone either. We’re in this together, Lance. That’s a promise.”

Hot tears left burning trails down Lance’s cheeks at his sister’s words. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Allura and held her while they both cried.

* * *

 

There were very few times Coran felt guilty for eavesdropping on conversations. Up until now, he’d been absolutely fine listening in on his two wards argue and scream at each other. But now it was time for him and his fellow eavesdroppers who had joined him sporadically throughout the argument to go.

He stood and straightened his uniform. “Alright everyone,” he said just softly enough so the overwrought siblings inside the room wouldn’t hear him, “show’s over. Off to the showers with you.”

“Aw,” Pidge grumbled, crawling up from his crouch by the door. “It was just getting good too.”

“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Hunk whined, following the green paladin back down the hall to their respective rooms.

“Will they be alright?” the black paladin asked with open concern.

“Hm? Oh yes, they will in a bit,” Coran said with a fond smile. “If you think this fight was bad, you have no idea what it was like back on Altea. Those two were often at each other’s throats. They just got mature about it, I guess. If you call screaming at each other and not pulling each other's hair mature. Still,” he added thoughtfully, “even though they fight and yell, they’ll always be as a close as a pack of yelmors.”

“Ew,” Keith winced. “Gross. Yelmors are disgusting.”

“What?” Coran gasped, as if he was actually offended. “How can you say that? Yelmors are such gentle, noble creatures.”

Keith stuck out his tongue and gagged. “They taste _awful_.”

Coran’s eyes bulged. “You _eat_ them?!” He quickly slapped his hands over his mouth and listened carefully. Thankfully the siblings were still making up in Lance’s room, oblivious to them all. “You _eat_ them?” he repeated in a heated whisper.

Keith just shrugged. “What? It was cold and I was hungry. Besides, it was meat. Who am I to turn down a good piece of free food?”

Shiro chuckled. “As a former college student, I can second that opinion. Night, you two,” he said waving. “See you at dinner.”

Coran sputtered as he watched Shiro leave, then huffed and coiffed his bushy mustache in indignation. He looked at Keith who was still standing awkwardly by Lance’s door. “Well, what are you waiting for? Off with you. Shoo, shoo,” he said, waving the halfbreed away from the prince’s door and back down the hall.

Keith hesitated, still looking at the prince’s door with an emotion Coran hadn’t seen in a long time. He paused and studied the halfbreed’s face closely, following the violet gaze to Lance’s door, and back to Keith. He hummed thoughtfully.

“Jealousy isn’t necessarily becoming, you know,” he said.

Keith jumped back from the advisor in shock. “What?!”

Coran slapped a hand over Keith’s mouth and place a single finger over his own indicating the halfbreed should keep his voice down.

“What!?” Keith repeated quietly.

“I said, jealousy isn’t necessarily becoming, you know,” Coran said calmly. He winked. “You’ll need patience and endurance for those two,” he continued. “Whichever one you seem interested in. Although,” he added almost as an afterthought, “if you do decide to make a move, I’d fear the other one, if I were you. They may be royalty, but they are also quite deadly. Space is a vast, dark void. Plenty of places to hide a body.”

Keith was left standing alone by Lance’s bedroom door, wondering for the umpteenth time that cycle if mating Lance had really been a good idea.


	17. Boiling Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the siblings bond post-fight, tickling is a great way to drop barriers and learn secrets, Allura is super protective of her baby brother and has a temper that should be feared, and Pidge gets even more curse words. Pidge approves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** And now the Mate reveal. Allura is a BAMF. Do. NOT. Cross. Her. Lance is her baby brother. She gives the shovel talk of all shovel talks. Fear her Keith. Fear her.
> 
> **IMPORTANT!!!  
> **  
>  I'm seriously considering ending this fic after the 18th chapter and continuing this AU in another fic which I'll connect to this in a series. But I want your input. What do y'all think I should do?
> 
>  **A)** End this fic with chapter 18 and continue the AU in another story connected to this one as part of a series?
> 
> or
> 
>  **B)** Keep this story going in this one fic but as a "Part 2" if you will?
> 
> Let me know which one you prefer in your comments so I can do what makes y'all happy. I'll be continuing this either way. I'm just curious as to how y'all would prefer I continue it.

Sometime after Allura had cried herself out, she and Lance had moved to the prince’s bed. Lance lie across the mattress’s width with his legs dangling loosely over the side. Allura was perpendicular to Lance, with her head on her brother’s chest. Both siblings lay on their backs staring at the ceiling. One of Lance’s hands rested on his sister’s hair, and the other held Allura’s hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said eventually. “I didn’t mean to make you think I wasn’t coming back.”

Allura sighed. “I know you didn’t,” she said softly. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“It’s a long story,” Lance warned.

Allura flopped her free hand over her stomach and hummed. “Are you really in a rush to eat Coran’s latest masterpiece?”

Lance grimaced comically. “Not…really.”

His sister snorted. “I won’t tell if you won't,” she said giggling.

“I’m the soul of discretion.”

Allura jabbed her elbow in Lance’s side, snickering when he coughed and whined. “If you’re the soul of discretion then we’re all doomed.”

“Love you too, sis,” Lance said wryly.

A teck or so after they’d calmed back down, Allura felt a worried frown worm its way onto her face. “Lance, please,” she said. “What happened?”

Lance took a deep breath and sighed. “A lot, actually,” he said slowly. “I was caught in the battleship’s tractor beam while I was in the water.”

“So their technology has mastered that inhibition too,” the princess said wearily.

“I wasn’t too far underwater,” Lance said. “It’s possible the beam still has its limits. Maybe if I’d been deeper underwater, it wouldn’t have caught me.”

“But it did,” Allura said. “Where did they take you?”

“The main bridge,” Lance said, his fingers starting to undo his sister’s long white hair from its bun. “They may have taken me somewhere else first, but I was unconscious at the time. The commander of the cruiser was called Sendak and he answered directly to Zarkon.”

Allura swallowed thickly. “Is it… Was it really him? Or-”

“It was him,” Lance said grimly. “He called me by my title.”

“He _spoke_ to you?” Allura asked.

“Yeah.”

The princess felt her brother shift under her head and didn’t press for him to continue. He’d talk when he was ready.

“He asked about you,” Lance said softly.

Allura squeezed her brother’s hand tighter.

“He killed Tayla,” Lance continued, squeezing his sister’s hand in return. “He tortured her and found out Father tied the Lions to the Heir’s life force.”

Allura closed her eyes feeling them water. “May the Lions protect her,” she murmured.

“May the fields beyond welcome her,” Lance finished the old, traditional Altean prayer. He took a deep breath and continued his story. “He- Zarkon- He inferred you were dead and the Lions were tied to me.”

“What?” Allura eyes flew open and she rolled over, pushing herself up on her forearms to stare at her brother. “Lance, what did you do?”

Her brother flushed and avoided her gaze. “Nothing, actually,” he admitted. His one blue eye flickered to hers and back to the side nervously. “I was too scared to talk at first. But…” He licked his chapped lips. “Sendak was pulling my hair and it hurt and I was scared and… Zarkon saw me cry when he asked about you and thought I was implying you were dead. So he thinks the Lions are tied to me.”

Allura stared at her brother in shock, trying to consider all of the ramifications of what this information meant. “That’s why you told Coran I was dead,” she said in understanding.

Lance nodded. “Open channels are too risky to talk to you directly,” he said. “Private channels tend to be more secure, but encrypted channels are the best. As long as Zarkon thinks you’re dead, we have a secret weapon.”

“We have Voltron now,” Allura said. “We don’t need a secret weapon.”

“But we do,” Lance insisted, sitting up and pulling his legs up to rest his forearms on his knees. “We do, Allura. We’re severely outnumbered here. Think about it. While we slept, the Galra had 10,000 periods to improve their technology and weaponry, improve their battle tactics, grow their empire, solidify their hold on the universal society and trade, _and_ they have the backing of the Druids.”

“The Druids sided with _them?”_ Allura gasped.

Lance nodded, tilting his head slightly. “Maybe not all of them, but Keith seemed to think they were all loyal to Zarkon. I think it would be safe to assume all of the Druids are loyal to Zarkon unless we have proof otherwise.”

Allura nodded slowly, not liking this new information. “About Keith,” she said. “How did you meet him?”

“He was assigned to take care of me, believe it or not,” Lance said. He shook his head with a wry smile. “There really are times when I just wonder if I’m still on the edges of a lingering juniberry dream.”

His sister snickered. “You always were amusing when you drank juniberry juice,” she teased.

“Yes, well, I had a higher tolerance than some people,” Lance said, looking away from Allura. “No names.”

Allura smacked him playfully. “Anyway,” she said, “You were saying? He was assigned to you? How did you convince him to help you escape?”

Lance hesitated, color slowly darkened his cheeks. “I may have flirted…a little bit.” When he glanced back at his sister, he winced and smiled awkwardly at her formidable flat stare. “He has cute ears,” he said helplessly. “Besides, he’s an alpha,” he said seriously. “The Galra are purists. The fact there was a halfbreed on that ship at all, moving freely, _and_ he’s an alpha…” He tilted his head. “I thought I could use that.” He shrugged and waved his hand in helpless confusion. “I flirted for fun at first,” he admitted. “But he was reacting, particularly when I submitted to him, so I decided to-”

“You submitted to him?” Allura said, eyeing her brother astutely.

“I bared my throat to him,” Lance clarified. He huffed a laugh. “When I did that, he became…very…suggestible.”

“I’m sure he did,” Allura said, lifting an ironic eyebrow at her brother.

Lance shifted so his legs crossed in front of him and he braced his hands on his ankles, avoiding Allura’s gaze. “I convinced him to escape by promising him equality and freedom,” he said finally. “Before that, Sendak came to, ah, interrogate me,” Allura’s gaze narrowed in fury, “and Keith showed up a little afterwards. He thought Sendak had made me submit.”

“Did he?” Allura asked gently, a sharp contrast to her burning gaze.

Lance shook his head. “I spit in his face,” he said proudly. “I did the same to Zarkon when I saw him.”

Allura smiled in a way that made Lance simultaneously proud and terrified.

“Anyway,” Lance said, looking away from his sister’s disturbing smile, “Keith commanded me not to submit to anyone but him.”

“That was a bit forward of him,” Allura said, pulling his legs up over the blanket so they rested next to her comfortably. Lance cleared his throat and avoided her gaze, and the princess stared at her brother sharply. “Lance, what aren’t you telling me?”

Lance gave a half shrug. “I asked Keith to leave with me and he agreed,” Lance said instead of answering his sister’s question.

“Lance?”

“We freed the prisoners and got them off the battlecruiser in escape pods, but the ship made the jump to slipstream before we could get out,” Lance continued. “So we had to find a place to hide and wait until we got out of slipstream before trying another escape.”

“Lance.”

“That’s when Keith asked me if any of the Lions his commander, Sendak had been looking for were red.” Lance shrank under his sister’s growing annoyance but kept talking to alleviate his discomfort. “I said yes and Keith took me to the Red Lion. We couldn’t get it to activate so we were just going to hide when the Galra found us. We hid and Keith depressurized the hangar.”

“La- He _depressurized_ the hangar?” Allura cried. “While in _slipstream?”_

“Yeah,” Lance said, laughing at the shocking memory. “I still can’t believe he did that. Although, the alternative was just as bad.”

“What alternative?” Allura demanded.

“Be captured and very likely tortured or, definitely in Keith’s case, killed horribly,” Lance said holding up one hand, “or depressurize the hangar and hope the drones all fly out and close the hangar door in time to hide and get away,” he added, holding up his other hand.

“Why do I get the feeling the hangar door wasn’t closed?” Allura said suspiciously.

Lance slumped in defeat. “It wasn’t,” he said. “Keith held on to me to keep me from flying out into space, but he couldn’t hit the button to close the doors. Something hit his hand and-” He sat up suddenly. “Quiznak, _that’s_ when he broke his hand.”

Allura snapped her fingers in front of Lance's face to drag her brother’s focus back to the subject at hand. “Something hit his hand and…” she encouraged, gesturing for Lance to continue.

“Something hit his hand and we…sort of…flew out.”

Allura stared at him. “You flew out,” she said flatly.

Lance shrugged like a guilty child and nodded weakly.

“You flew out into space, _while_ the ship was at slipstream, and you’re _shrugging?!”_ Allura exclaimed. She smacked her brother over the back of the head.

“Ow! What was that for?” Lance gasped, rubbing his head gingerly.

“You could have died!” Allura said forcefully. “You _should_ have died.”

“Oh, geez, thanks for your vote of confidence,” Lance drawled, mildly annoyed.

“Lance, this is serious.”

“I know!” Lance shouted. He immediately regretted shouting when Allura backed away and bit her lip. She was just worried and confused and cared for her brother. “I know,” he said more gently. “You’re right. We should have died. We were going to hit the edge of the slipstream and be ripped apart. We _were_. But we didn’t. The Red Lion saved us. She probably sensed her paladin in danger and went to save him _._ I probably wouldn’t have survived if Keith hadn’t pulled me close and-”

He stopped himself abruptly and felt his face burn. He glanced at his sister and knew she had seen his sudden change in demeanor and was now going to push until he got a satisfactory answer for her curiosity. He pulled his legs up to his chest and ducked his head between his knees to hid his blush. Frak, why wouldn’t his blush go _away?_

“Lance?” Allura said, flicking her brother’s pointed ear teasingly. “What were you going to say? If Keith hadn’t pulled you close and what? What did he do?”

Lance shook his head without lifting his face from his knees and Allura huffed. Fortunately, because Lance had folded himself up like this, he’d left his sides completely open and defenseless. She grinned and pounced.

Lance gave a high-pitched shriek and flailed, trying to bat his sister’s tickling hands from his sensitive sides. He rolled over onto his stomach and tried to crawl across the bed to escape her but she flopped down on top of him, using her weight to hold him down while she continued to mercilessly assault his sides.

“Mercy!” Lance pleaded desperately between gasping for breath. “Mercy- AH!”

Allura just smirked and blew on her brother’s ear earning her a gratifying squeal. Lance squirmed over the blankets to get away but between the friction of the fabric and his sister’s tickling hands, his shirt stretched down and his collar flared out. Allura’s laughter began to fade when she noticed the darkening bruises lining Lance’s throat. She stopped her assault to brush a finger along the ring of bruised skin.

“Did Sendak do this?” she asked.

Lance’s laughter stopped when he felt his sister’s delicate touch on his neck. It wasn’t threatening or uncomfortable, just tender and full of concern. His chest ached from more than just the usual cramps from a tickle attack. He heaved a sigh and relaxed face down on the mattress. He didn’t need to answer. Allura already knew.

Lance turned his head to the right so his neck was in a more comfortable position and he could breathe more easily. However, it was his right eye that was swollen effectively blinding him on that side. So he missed when his sister noticed another bruise further down in his collar’s shadow at the joint where his neck and shoulder met. He reacted too late to hide the Mark.

“What is this?” Allura said, holding her brother’s collar out so the bedroom’s light could show the bruised bite mark on Lance’s dark skin. Lance scrambled to get up, but she jumped on top of him, knocking the air out of him and pulled his collar out even further so it pressed uncomfortably against his neck.

“What,” she said slowly, anger seeping into her voice, “is _this?”_

Lance dug a finger between his collar and his throat freeing up enough of his windpipe to cough. “Um, nothing?”

Allura didn't say anything and that was terrifying. Lance regretted laying down with his blind eye facing up. He couldn’t see anything. He couldn’t gauge his sister’s reaction by her face. He couldn’t do anything except try to breathe. He was so quiznaked.

“That fraking son of a Magog.”

Lance’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Did you just…? Did you just curse?” he gasped.

Suddenly, Allura’s pinning weight was gone and Lance lifted his head and twisted his body so he could stare at his sister in disbelief.

She was walking to the door.

“Wai-” He scrambled to get up and stop his sister, but he got caught and tangled in the blankets. He twisted to try to free himself but ended up falling off the side of the bed and landing on the floor with a solid thud. “Wait!”

He finally managed to untangle his legs and quickly got to his feet, slipping on the blankets on the smooth metal floor as he ran out of the room after his sister. Allura was already down the hall, pounding the security override code to get into the red paladin’s chambers.

“Allura, wait!”

The red paladin’s door hissed open and Allura stepped in without even acknowledging her brother. Lance slid to a stop, wedging himself in the doorway just as the door began to slide shut. When the door sensed the resistance provided by Lance’s body, it slid open once more and the prince burst into the room. He never noticed the curious onlookers coming out of their respective quarters, drawn by the royal ruckus.

“Wait. Allura!”

Lance skidded to a stop when he saw Keith standing alone in the middle of his room with his dark hair mussed and dripping wet, his ears alert but weighed down by water, and only wearing a towel around his waist. Oh, frak.

Keith blinked, stunned by the unexpected intrusion. “What the frell-?”

“You,” Allura snarled viciously, advancing on the red paladin.

Her fury was so palpable it intimidated even Lance. Her long, white hair framed her angelic face with the threatening aura of a tempest on the Altean sea. She shone in all her terrible beauty with the powerful heat of a supernova. Nothing would stand against her fury; not now, not ever.

“’Llura,” Lance called, reaching out to his sister with a frantic, pleading expression.

“How _dare_ you!” Allura raged.

“It’s not that bad, really,” Lance pleaded.

“What’s not that bad?” Pidge asked, startling a high-pitched shriek from the prince. “Woah,” the green paladin said, adjusting his glasses in surprise. “I didn’t you could do that.”

“What’s going on?” Hunk asked, stepping behind Pidge and taking in the tableau with cautious interest.

“I- It’s nothing, I swear,” Lance said quickly, waving his hands frantically. “Nothing to see here. You can go. You can all go now.”

“You _Marked_ my brother,” the princess raged at the stunned red paladin.

Lance wilted, covering his face with his hands and sinking to his knees. How utterly humiliating.

“Marked?” Pidged asked, curiously.

“Marked?” Hunk parroted in surprise.

“Oh, hi, Shiro,” Pidge said, waving to the black paladin who joined their group. “Allura’s mad.”

“Yeah,” Shiro said, taking in the scene quickly and not really sure what to make of it. “I can see that.”

“You _Marked_ my _brother,_ you fraking son of a Magog!” Allura screamed in untamed fury.

“Marked… He _what?”_ Shiro gasped, staring at the prince’s wilted form in astonishment.

“Wait,” Keith said, finally speaking up. He seemed wholly unbothered by the fact that a very angry, very protective Altean princess was encroaching on his personal space in an obvious challenge. Instead, he seemed too busy trying to focus on something else.

“Brother?” Keith said. His face was the epitome of disbelief. “He’s your _brother?_ ”

“Seriously?” Pidge asked, propping his hands on his waist. “That’s what you got out of that?"

“You’re her  _brother?_ ” Keith demanded, staring at Lance and pointing at Allura.

Lance just sighed. This was not how this whole thing was supposed to go.

“You Marked my brother,” Allura said, standing with her weight cocked on one his and crossed her arms defiantly. “You’d better be frelling _terrified_ we’re related.”

Lance groaned loudly. “In our defense,” he said loudly, “we were both sure we were going to be ripped apart by the slipstream when we flew out of the hangar.”

“Slipstream?” Shiro gasped. “You ejected from a Galra ship while in _slipstream?”_

“Is that bad?” Hunk asked innocently.

“The Red Lion saved us,” Lance whined.

“Because I Marked him,” Keith said.

“You could have just pulled him close,” Allura argued.

“We were flying through space into a _slipstream!”_ Lance cried. “It’s not like we had time to plan this.”

“That’s just makes this worse!” Allura exclaimed, whirling on her brother. “Why are you okay with this?”

“Oh frell,” Lance moaned. “Just… Just stop. Let me curl up somewhere and disappear for a tock, or a cycle, or a period, or three periods. Yeah, three periods.”

“Oh no you don’t,” the princess said, snagging him by the collar as her brother stood to slip out of the mess. “You are in so much trouble. And _you,”_ she said, turning back to a still half naked Keith and pointing at him menacingly, “I am _not_ finished with you. Not by a long shot. But you’ll have to wait while I go escort my brother to his punishment.”

“You can’t do-”

“I can and I will,” Allura said over her brother’s protest. “Into the cryopod you go, baby brother.”

“Wha- No!” Lance cried, fighting to escape his sister’s strong grip.

“Hey!” Keith cried, racing towards Lance and Allura.

“You will stay here,” Allura commanded the halfbreed. To everyone’s surprise, Keith stilled and did not move from his spot, his ears pinned firmly to his head, and his eyes blown wide.

“Okay,” he said meekly.

“The rest of you,” Allura said with a deceptive calm as she turned to her impromptu audience, “I believe Coran is expecting all of you for dinner. I’m afraid Lance won’t be joining us this evening.”

“’Llura please do-”

“Shut your quiznak, brother,” Allura ordered her brother who immediately clamped his mouth shut.

“Shiro,” the princess said calmly. “If you could kindly escort me and my brother to the cryopods, please. Pidge, Hunk, I’ll see you both at dinner shortly. Keith,” she said, the burning heat returning to her eyes and the anger returning to her voice, “I expect you there too. Dinner should be in ten tecks. Be there on time or I’ll be forced to do something I might regret.”

Lance whimpered and Keith just nodded, ears still pinned to his head and eyes wide. The red paladin gulped. Allura sighed and shook herself, smiling sweetly at Shiro. “Lead the way please, Shiro,” she said.

Shiro just nodded and obediently led the princess from Keith’s quarters out into the hallway. Hunk and Pidge watched the proceedings with awe. Hunk was mildly terrified but Pidge actually looked impressed. The green paladin smirked.

“I like her,” he said in a pleased tone.

“Remind me never to cross her,” Hunk said, placing a hand on Pidge’s shoulder that was more for his benefit than his shorter companion’s.

“Frak,” Keith murmured just loud enough for the other paladins to hear. He still stood rooted to the spot where Allura ordered him to stay. “What the frell have I done?” he whimpered. “She’s… She’s a fraking _Alpha!”_

“Ooh, more curse words,” Pidge crooned. “Nice.”


	18. Ignited Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which dinner is awkward, Pidge has a serious question for Lance, Coran learns Earth cuss words, Lance runs from his watchdog, and the siblings survive to fight another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** So the comment results from the poll are in.
> 
>  **A** (End the fic and start a series) **\- 7 votes  
> **  
>  **B** (Continue this fic with Story Arc/Part 2) **\- 6 votes  
> **  
>  **C** (Didn't care either way) **\- 8 votes**
> 
>    
> That means this fic will end and I'll continue it as a series. There WILL BE **ONE MORE CHAPTER AFTER** THIS ONE!!!! I'll create the series and add this story to it. Then I'll add chapter 19 to this fic at the same time I post chapter 1 of the sequel in the series. The current working title for the sequel is _Chill_ and will focus on the Balmera arc and the growth of the klance relationship. This will very likely result in a jump in rating from **T** to **E** and I'm not sure if everyone is ok with that. I'll post a warning for the chapter with explicit content, but yeah.
> 
>    
> The final title for the sequel, like with _Warmth_ , will influence the chapter titles. I'll include the link to the sequel as well as the series in the final chapter of this fic: chapter 19.
> 
> For those who read this on Fanfiction(.)net, I won't separate the work into a different work because they don't have a way to connect works in a series. So I'll just do a **PART 2** thing on there.

Dinner was a very awkward affair to be sure.

“Um, what is this?” Hunk asked, pointing at the suspiciously radioactive green goop that currently covered his plate.

“It’s a proper, nutritious Altean meal,” Coran declared proudly. “It’s got lots of the vitamins and nutrition you young paladins will need for what's ahead.”

“I’m not sure I like what you’re implying,” Hunk said, feeling a growing sense of dread settle in the pit of his stomach.

“Tomorrow you'll start a strict training regimen,” Coran said, clapping his hands in excitement. “We need to test the Castle’s defenses now that we have everything up and running again. We’re still not at full power unfortunately, but we’ll get there.” He winked and flipped his mustache. “Besides, I think Allura had plans to greet the local Arusians; if there are any that is.”

“We have to train?” Pidge whined. His head thunked unceremoniously on the dining table. “I am so sleeping in tomorrow.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard,” Shiro said with an encouraging smile. “We need to get used to fighting with our bayards.”

“I don’t think you need a bayard, Shiro,” Pidge said astutely. “I think your arm is a weapon.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said around a mouthful of the food goo. “It lit up like a glow stick.”

“I…” Shiro held up his mechanical arm and studied it with trepidation. “I think it is a weapon,” he agreed. “I’m just not sure how to use it.”

“What do you mean you don’t know how to use it?” Keith said suddenly, startling everyone at the table. The halfbreed looked up and stared Shiro in the eye. “I saw you. I saw you fight in the arena. You used that thing to cut your enemies down like they were nothing. I watched you cut your challengers in half! What the frell do you mean you don’t know how to use it?”

Shiro’s eye grew wide in horror. The other paladins and even Coran looked slightly disturbed by Keith’s declaration. The black paladin visibly shrunk in on himself, his shoulders hunching over and his eyes dropping to stare at his Galra arm like he was afraid it would suddenly activate and bite him.

“I… I’m…” Shiro sighed heavily and closed his eyes. “I don’t remember,” he said slowly. “Not really. I remember snatches, images, sensations, that kind of thing. But nothing useful.” He opened his eyes and lifted his gaze to Keith’s. “I was captured while on a scientific mission to Kerberos. We had no weapons, just scientific equipment and a total of three crewmembers, myself included. I don’t even know what happened to the other two of my crew.”

Keith sat back and looked away. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“Thank you,” Shiro nodded gratefully. “I’m sorry I can’t remember anything useful.”

“It’s not your fault,” Hunk said while Pidge slumped in his seat. “You went through a lot. No one’s expecting you to be Superman.” He thought for a moment. “Except maybe you,” he added after a moment.

Shiro huffed a laugh, smiling weakly at the yellow paladin. “Thanks, Hunk,” he said gratefully.

“Don’t mention it,” Hunk replied with a big smile. “We’re all in this together.”

“If you even _think_ about singing that song, I will fucking murder you,” Pidge warned his companion with a dark glare.

Hunk laughed awkwardly and held up his hands to stave off the green paladin’s terrifying glare. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Pidge lifted an eyebrow and Hunk whimpered. Satisfied with his victory, the green paladin withdrew and lifted a spork to taste his plateful of food goo. “I’d better not die of radiation poisoning from this,” he muttered before stuffing a sporkful of the stuff in his mouth.

He was pleasantly surprised by the taste. It wasn’t disgusting so much as it was incredibly bland. It was in dire need of salt, not to mention anything resembling flavor. Was there such a thing a space spices? Pidge was fairly certain he could take a few days of this stuff, but any longer and he would probably be sick from lack of flavor.

“I need a bag of Lay's Originals,” he muttered.

Hunk sighed dreamily. “I could go for that,” he said. “Thanksgiving dinner, though.”

Pidge hummed and pointed at Hunk in enthusiastic agreement. “Yes!”

“Oh god yes,” Shiro agreed wholeheartedly. “A huge turkey with rosemary and herbs stuffed between the skin in the meat, roasted in the oven so the different flavors just sink into the turkey meat.”

“That sound amazing,” Hunk said. “But not as good as my Mom’s broiled turkey. She’d stuff the innards with stuffing and oh! My mouth became heaven on earth.”

“Y’all are weird,” Pidge said with a grin. “We used to always have ham for Thanksgiving. Honey maple ham sliced to perfection with green beans and bacon bits.”

“Oh dear god above, bacon,” Shiro moaned.

“Nectar of the gods,” Hunk moaned.

Keith stared at his fellow paladins in confused concern. “That all sounds…” He tilted his head slightly. “Interesting.”

“Not as interesting as you Marking Lance,” Shiro said almost offhandedly, stuffing a sporkful of food goo into his mouth.

“He did _what?_ ” Coran cried. He stood up and slammed his hands on the table and stared at the red paladin. “You did what?!” he shouted again.

Keith’s violet eyes grew huge and his shrank into his seat. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he mumbled, glancing around him for the princess.

“What does that even mean?” Pidge asked. “Marked. What is that?”

“Yeah, you’re all acting like it’s a big deal,” Hunk said, studying everyone’s face closely.

“It is,” Shiro said.

“You’ve only know each other a cycle,” Coran cried. “If that. How could you do that? _Why_ would you do that to yourself? What if he rejects you?”

Keith bowed his head. “Then I guess I’ll just deal with that,” he said, rubbing the juncture where his neck met his left shoulder self-consciously.

“Not very well though,” Coran said, sitting back down with a weary look on his face. “From my experience, rejected mates don’t tend to last very long.”

“Mates?” Hunk repeated. “As in ‘friend’ mates or ‘love-you-kiss-you-have-sex-with-you’ mates?”

Shiro sighed. “The latter.” He glanced at Keith. “Why did you do it?”

Keith’s shoulders twitched in a weak shrug. “I was interested in him,” he said slowly, “he was interested in me, we were going to die…”

“So it was basically a ‘fuck it, I’m doin’ it' moment,” Pidge said helpfully.

“Y-yeah,” Keith said. “It was. Lance didn’t seem too mad when he found out.”

“Found out? You mean you didn’t ask him first?” Hunk gasped. “You just did it? Er, what is ‘it’ exactly anyway?”

Keith blushed. “We were ejected into space,” he said defensively. “We couldn’t have talked even if we wanted to. Besides, we _were_ going to die. If the Red Lion hadn’t saved us, we would’ve been shredded by the slipstream.”

“I’ve seen that happen before,” Shiro said in the ensuing silence. He looked thoughtful as he spoke. “I don’t remember the circumstances but I remember the commander of the prisoner transfer ship I was on shooting someone out of an airlock while at slipstream. It took less than ten seconds for them to hit the slipstream and tear apart like a meat shredder.”

“Oh,” Hunk said in a little voice. “I’m…not really hungry anymore.”

“Too bad, Hunk,” the princess said striding boldly into the dining room with a healed and very uncomfortable Lance by her side. She smiled at Keith. “Your turn, Keith. I hope you ate something because after your done with your healing pod session, I expect you to go straight to bed. As for the rest of you, I’ll see you all tomorrow for training. Coran, do you have anything for Lance and I to eat?”

“Oh yes,” the advisor chirped, hopping up from his chair to fill they royal siblings’ plates. He never noticed Lance’s face turn almost the same shade of green as the food goo. Pidge did though.

“Don’t worry,” the green paladin said. “It’s not that bad.”

Lance shuddered and turned to leave. “I’m actually not that hungry.”

“Wait,” Allura said and Lance froze. “Who said you could leave, Lance?”

“Uh…”

“You’re staying with either me or Coran for the duration of the evening,” the princess said. “Coran, please take care of my brother while I take Keith to the healing pod.”

“Of course, your highness,” Coran said, pulling up a chair for Lance who sank into in like he was melting.

“Keith?” Allura called patiently. “Come with me, now.”

Keith instantly stood and hustled to the princess’s side. With one last fearful glance at Lance, he allowed himself to follow Allura out of the dining room. The moment Keith was out of sight, Pidge leapt up, leaning over the table, so he was in the prince’s personal space.

“So,” he said, a smug grin on his face, “is it true? Are you two mates? Like married-mates?”

Lance’s face went through several shades of red before settling on a deep crimson. He looked away and pressed his lips together. This just served to boost Pidge’s need to know.

“Have you fucked yet?” Pidge asked.

Hunk spit green food goo all over Shiro who froze and sat in stunned silence trying to comprehend what just happened. Lance and Coran, however, looked confused.

“Fucked?” Coran asked innocently. “What does that mean?”

Hunk began coughing violently and Shiro groaned, covering his eyes with his hands, resting his elbows on his table.

Pidge snorted. “Have either of you put your cock up the other’s ass yet?” he pressed, smirking savagely.

Lance blinked and stared at Pidge with both of his eyes while Coran furrowed his brow in confusion. “Why do I get the feeling I’m missing something?” Lance asked cautiously.

“Um, I beg your pardon,” Coran said, "but what is a ‘cock’ and what is an ‘ass?’”

Hunk gave up eating and just dropped his head onto the table. Shiro dropped his spork and groaned. “Pidge,” the black paladin begged, “for the love of my sanity and Hunk’s lungs, please stop.”

“A cock is a penis,” Pidge said gleefully, enjoying the way Lance’s face darkened, “and an ass is a butthole.” Pidge snickered. “I’m asking if you’ve had sex yet, dumbass.”

“How could you _possibly_ ask me that?” Lance exclaimed. “We literally just met earlier this cycle! It _was_ this last cycle, right?” He looked to Shiro for confirmation, but the black paladin was shaking his head and holding up his hands in surrender.

“I’m crashing for the night guys,” Shiro said wearily. “Lance,” he patted the prince’s shoulder, “good luck.”

“I… I’m with you,” Hunk said. Quickly standing and running after Shiro.

“What?” Lance gasped. “You’re abandoning me? Hunk, I thought we were bros?”

Hunk flashed his ‘bro’ a sheepish smile. “Sorry man,” he said. “I already had my birds and the bees talk.”

“Bir… What?” Lance was about to stand and chase his friend down only to find himself face-to-face with a still grinning Pidge.

“You never answered my question,” Pidge said. “Are you two fucking or not?”

Lance flushed but drew himself up and said, “No, we are not.”

“Oh.” The disconcerting light in the green paladin’s eyes died and he sat back down in a sulk. “Well, that’s boring.”

“Fascinating,” Coran said, stroking his mustache and studying Pidge curiously. “Are all humans so open about their sexual escapades?” he asked.

Pidge shrugged. “Some are, some aren’t,” he said. “We have lots of sexual orientations, sexual act preferences, gender preferences, you get the idea. Of course, not everyone is open to those ideas, but the younger generation certainly is.”

Coran hummed. “Interesting,” he said, considering the green paladin’s words thoughtfully. “That sounds like an fascinating study indeed.”

Lance sighed and stood to slip out of the dining room while he had the chance.

“Not so fast, young man,” Coran called.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” he said in exasperation. “You want me?” he demanded, turning to his advisor indignantly. “Come and get me, old man.”

Without waiting for a response, Lance turned and ran as fast as he could down the hallway. He could hear Coran calling his name and giving chase. Thankfully, despite Lance’s reluctance to get into one, the healing pod had restored the prince to a healthy state and he could run at top speed. Also, Coran knew this Castle well, but Lance had grown up in it and knew all of the best hiding spots.

He turned down a dimly lit hall to a part of the Castle that wasn’t used as often. He and Allura had often explored the Castle with their siblings, daring each other to climb up into the air vents or squeeze through a small window to get a better view of the silvery rings orbiting high in Altea’s atmosphere. It had been just a game at the time, but those memories of mapping out the Castle as a child still stuck. Lance drew on those memories now and ducked into a small air vent near the floor and crawled up through a ventilation shaft often used for maintenance workers back when the Castle was inhabited by more than just seven people and a handful of refugees still slumbering away in cryopods. Coran never had a chance.

When Lance finally came to another air vent, he peered through the slanted metal slats into the room to orient himself. He should be near the paladin’s weapons chamber. Sure enough, a quick peek into the room showed five tanks lining one of the walls, two of which were lit and still had armor in them, and a pedestal in the center of the room glowing a soft white. Lance grinned and began working the vent loose.

When he finished removing the vent, the prince crawled out onto the floor and stood, brushing the thousands of years’ worth of dust off of his pants. Satisfied, he approached the tank with the blue armor and placed his hand on the glass. To his relief, the glass lifted, allowing Lance access to the blue armor within that matched his Lion. He carefully removed the armor and held it up to the light.

It certainly had his father’s flair for simplicity and utilitarianism. Lance had always preferred a little something more to his outfits and weaponry and everything. He wanted to put something of himself on what he considered his. Seeing the armor now, he noticed a few minute changes that had been done after Lance had…gone to sleep.

The new armor was made of a sturdier material that still gave when the user moved. It wouldn’t be as stiff as the original paladins’ uniforms. It was also sleeker and more streamlined. If Lance ever decided to do another space jump, he would build up less friction if he wore this armor.

Lowering the armor, Lance turned to the pedestal and placed his hand on the top. The glass slid open and the blue bayard rose up to greet him. Lance hesitated before taking hold of it. In a bright flash, the bayard had transformed into a large but light plasma gun. Relief and pride flooded the prince’s senses as he studied his bayard with joy. It must have sensed the prince’s desire for an accurate long-range weapon. It made something warm and soothing touch his heart and blossom in his chest.

Keith still didn’t have his paladin armor or bayard. That could prove to be a problem if they had to go into a fight in a hurry.  Hopefully that wouldn’t happen, but in case it did, Keith should at least be aware his armor and weapon were waiting for him here. Lance folded his armor over his arm and tucked his bayard, which had reverted to its natural form into his belt. Instead of climbing back into the air vent, he cautiously poked his head out of the main door into the hallway.

All clear.

He slipped out and hurried off to his room to drop off his newly acquired things. Next, he was off to the cryopod chamber. It took a lot of courage to approach the room; he still wasn’t sure if he would ever trust those things ever again. Nevertheless, he forced himself to step around the corner and into the room. He was mildly disappointed to find his sister standing impatiently by one of the pods. A glance at the pod revealed why: Keith was sleeping soundly in the pod Allura was glaring so intently at.

Lance sighed drawing his sister’s attention.

“Lance,” she said in mild surprise. “What are you doing here?” She scanned the hallway behind her brother and frowned. “Where’s Coran?”

Lance shrugged. “Probably looking for me a few floors down,” he said walking down the steps to the lower floor where his sister stood in the center of the room. The active cryopods formed a broken circle around the two Alteans, each one holding a healing being in it.

“I wanted Coran to watch you,” Allura said, sighing and crossing her arms limply without any anger in her words. “He’ll be beside himself with worry.”

Lance snickered. “He should be used to this from us, though,” he said, flashing his sister a sly grin.

After a moment, she returned it and they both began laughing. Allura recovered first, looking back up at the pod that held Keith in it. Her smile faded to a worried frown. “Are you really alright with this?” she asked. “Tell me honestly. I need to know if you’re okay with this.”

Lance pursed his lips and tucked his hands in his pockets, leaning his shoulder against his sister’s fondly. “Yes,” he said. “And no.” He sighed and thought about his words carefully before speaking them aloud. “Yes, I’m okay with it being Keith because I know he’ll never betray me. A Galra’s loyalty to their mate is absolute. You and I both know the chances of a Galra choosing anything, even Zarkon, over their mate is slim.”

Allura nodded but remained silent.

“No,” Lance continued, “I’m not okay with it because I didn’t get to choose. Then again, neither did he.”

Allura gave him a look in the corner of her eye. “He chose to Mark you,” she said. “That’s a choice.”

“That he made when we were ticks from certain death,” Lance said, meeting his sister’s eyes. “He didn’t want to die alone. I can’t fault him for that,” he said, never breaking eye contact with Allura.

The princess looked away, resting her head on her brother’s Marked shoulder. “This isn’t right,” she whispered. “We were supposed to fight. We were supposed to form Voltron during the Great War and fight. We would have won.”

“You don’t know that,” Lance said, with no real feeling behind his words.

“No, but we don’t _not_ know that either,” Allura countered. “Father could have ordered the paladins to form Voltron and fight back.”

“We were down a paladin,” Lance said. “The black paladin…”

Neither of them finished that thought. It was just too painful.

“We survived, though,” Allura said finally, dropping one of her arms and twining her fingers with her brother’s.

Lance’s gaze dropped to their hands and he forced a sad smile for his sister’s benefit. She could never know what really happened; how he had failed, how his intel had been compromised and he’d been too late to act, how he could do nothing but watch as his siblings died in the attack that started everything.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “We survived.”


	19. Sneak Peek: Chill on the Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sneak peek of the next installment of the **Warmth series: _Chill_.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** This is the last chapter of _Warmth_ and a sneak peek of the sequel _Chill_. The sequel will deal with the Sendak/Balmera story arc and will likely get an Explicit rating because Sendak is a cruel bastard, Lance can't leave well enough alone, and Keith is running out of patience. In short, there will be some hardcore Klance in the sequel.
> 
> The link to the sequel _Chill_ :  
> The link to the series this fic and _Chill_ are a part of: http://archiveofourown.org/series/558838

When Lance first convinced him to escape the Galra and run away to who-knows-where space, Keithek had doubted they would succeed. But honestly, the chance of living a life of freedom had been lucrative. Compared to a life of endless discrimination and hatred and an inevitably uncomfortable death with the Galra, what Lance offered was a shining star of hope. That faint hope had fueled Keithek's desperation to escape. Now he was living in an ancient Castle with members of a long dead race that wasn’t actually dead, mated to one of them, and a member of a team of intrepid paladins piloting giant mechanical Lions that together formed the mythical Voltron. It was amazing.

Amazingly awful.

Keithek lay limply across the couch in the paladins’ lounge gasping for breath and sweating profusely. He and the others had spent the past several tocks dodging weapons fire from the Castle in one of Allura’s many attempts to get them to form Voltron at will. The crazy princess had raised the Castle’s particle barrier, preventing them from returning to their hangars until they had formed Voltron. Thankfully, the Green Lion's paladin was the tech genius and figured out the codes to turn off the Castle’s formidable defenses and lower the particle barrier. He’d taken his sweet time about it though, Keithek thought in annoyance.

He glanced over and saw Lance sprawled across the bench further down with one leg thrown carelessly over the back cushion. Lance was just as tired and strained as the rest of them. Allura had shown no favoritism towards him even though they were siblings. She made them all suffer equally.

Keithek closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink into the cushions tiredly. They hadn’t quite gotten the hang of forming Voltron at will every single time yet, but they were getting there. It seemed they all needed to feel the desire to survive and fight in order for them to merge and form Voltron successfully. It had worked when that Druid-built atrocity of a Robeast arrived on Arus the cycle previous and attacked. Keithek suspected Haggar was behind that Robeast. It was simply too strong for the average Druid or group of Druids to create. They would have lost to it without question had the black paladin not stepped in.

The halfbreed was still intimidated by the Champion. Shiro. He’d asked to be called Shiro. That was another thing: Shiro was a lot nicer than Keithek had ever imagined him to be. He held himself like an alpha but was gentle with the younger paladins and the refugees in a way that wasn’t alpha-like. It was more reminiscent of a beta. Shiro even respected Keithek and made an effort to hear the halfbreed’s input before making any decisions. It was a nice change to the horrid conditions onboard the Galra battlecruiser.

The refugees had been another story entirely. They had not been entirely kind to Keithek and while he understood, it had still hurt. Strangely, they had shown the same fear of Shiro. They’d called him Champion too. It turned out, Shiro had wounded one of his own crew members in order to enter the arena as a gladiator in the first place. 

That had been a surprise, but it fit the persona of the Champion he was familiar with. It did not, however, fit the persona of the Shiro he was coming to know. In fact, the black paladin had been horrified and taken aback by the suggestion and vehemently rejected it. So had the green paladin, strangely. Apparently the crew that had been captured with Shiro were the green paladin’s family; his father and brother.

Keith was still trying to wrap his head around everything and it was only his third cycle as paladin of the Red Lion. This had not been what he’d thought of as 'freedom' when he’d first escaped, but it was still interesting enough to keep him on his toes. 

He wasn’t sure when he dosed off, but he sure as hell knew when he woke up. The alarms were blaring and Lance literally fell to the floor from being startled awake. Keithek was on his feet and paused just long enough to grab his mate by the collar of his armor and drag him to his feet before he joined everyone in their rush to get to the bridge.

 _Please don’t be another Robeast_ , Keithek prayed. _Please don’t be another Robeast. Please don’t be another Robeast._

“What is it, princess?” Shiro called when he ran reached the bridge. Of course he was the first one to arrive, Keith grumbled.

“Stand down, paladins,” Allura said calmly. “Coran, turn that klaxon off, will you.”

The advisor obediently turned off the alarm leaving Keithek and his fellow paladins confused. “Wait,” Keithek said. “Was this an emergency or not?”

“Please tell me this wasn’t just another drill,” Lance whined. “I love you, Allura, but I’m not above fighting you.”

Keithek twitched but reminded himself that Allura and Lance were siblings and calmed down. Any flirting between those two was clearly not meant to go any deeper than sibling rivalry and care. He still didn’t like Lance’s tendency to flirt with the other paladins, but at least the pool of candidates was small. Also, Keithek was confident enough in his position in their pack that if he raised a complaint, it would at least be looked into, if not acted upon. Allura was still the top Alpha of their group though. Keithek would never dare cross her. She was scary.

Allura gave her brother an absentminded smack on the back of his head without looking away from the bridge’s main view screen. “It’s not a drill,” she said. “We appear to have a guest. The Castle detected the being nearing it and alerted us to its presence.” She smiled and chuckled. “I doubt it’s a threat though.”

“Why not?” Hunk asked suspiciously, studying the view screen closely.

He got his answer when a tiny head poked out from behind a rock, raced across the open space to another rock, peeked out from behind it, and ran across the open space again to a spot behind a thick bush. It was…kind of cute. It had a round-ish face with curling horns on either side of its head, huge eyes, no visible nose, and short legs.

“What is that?” Pidge asked, leaning forward hoping to get a better look at the strange creature.

“Probably a local Arusian,” Allura said with a smile. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we hadn’t caught anyone’s attention after the firefights we’ve had over the past few cycles.”

“I’ll second that,” Keithek mumbled.

“Such strange horns,” Coran said, zooming in on the Arusian’s head. “I wonder what purpose they serve?”

Keithek eyed the advisor disconcertingly, edging closer to Lance’s side. Coran hadn’t dropped his interest in Keith’s genetic makeup, which, while it could have been taken as flattery, was downright weird to the halfbreed. He’d never known his mother. He’d only known his father and he hadn’t seen him for several periods; not since the Galra empire had separated them.

“Let’s go welcome them,” Allura said.

“Who, wait, what?” Hunk said. “Hold on. Princess, remember the last alien we met? You know, giant robot thing we fought yesterday? Right. It tried to kill us.”

Keithek raised a finger. “Actually,” he said, “it wasn’t an alien. It was a Robeast with the mind of a living being implanted into it by the Druids.”

“Yes,” Hunk said. “Yes, thank you Keith. A _giant robot alien_ that tried to kill us.”

“But it didn’t kill you,” Coran said. “Besides, I doubt you could be threatened by such a tiny alien. He’s too cute.”

“Cute aliens are the worst,” Hunk said, shuddering. “It’s always the cute ones that turn out to be the deadly ones. Duck-billed platypuses, poison dart frogs, lionfish-”

“Blue-ringed octopus,” Pidge added. “Black widow spiders.”

Hunk stared at the green paladin in horror. “You think black widow spiders are _cute?!_ ”

“Yeah,” Pidge said with a shrug. “They’re interesting. I also like luna moths. They’re carnivorous. They eats bugs and other moths and-”

“Okay, okay, you can’t talk anymore,” Hunk said, covering Pidge’s mouth with his hand. “Shiro, please tell me you don’t think black widows are cute.”

Shiro shrugged. “I don’t like black widow spiders, but I do like the Black Widow.”

Hunk squinted at the black paladin then beamed. “You’re a nerd!” he shouted, pointing at the oldest paladin. “You’re a freakin’ nerd. Aw, yeah!”

“What’s a black widow?” Keithek asked.

“Is it cute?” Lance asked.

“Can they be found on other planets?” Coran asked.

Allura cleared her throat. “If you don’t mind,” she said, looking at all of her paladins significantly, “I believe we have a local to welcome. It’s never too early to start building good relationships with other races in our fight against Zarkon.”

“Alright,” Lance said. “Whatever you say, sister dear.” He winked.

Allura gave him a tolerant glare before huffing a laugh. “Come on, you.”

* * *

 

He glared at the structure shining bright in the daylight. It taunted him with its unharmed perfection. It stood for everything he despised, and it stood where his great battlecruiser had fallen. All because one halfbreed had betrayed his duty and helped Sendak’s prized captive escape with the Red Lion.  

It was a sheer stroke of luck that he and his second-in-command managed to escape his doomed battlecruiser. Only a handful of drones had been salvaged from the disaster as well, most of them from the fighters that had crashed after the battlecruiser was destroyed by the accursed Voltron. The force he and Haxus had accumulated was small, but their enemy had few numbers as well.

Sendak had taken the past few cycles to quietly observe his enemy. He watched them struggle with their Lions, he’d watched the Castle fire its weapons at the Lions until the shield lifted and the Lions returned to their hangars, and studied the dynamics of the team. The paladin of the Black Lion was the clear leader of the pride, but there were times when the black paladin would give way to the blue paladin. The Green Lion was clever but not as agile as the Blue Lion and the Yellow Lion was by far the most armored of the pride. There was also the Red Lion.

His one biological eye narrowed as he thought of the Red Lion. It had been in his grasp until that despicable halfbreed escaped with the Altean prince, taking the Red Lion with them. It was either the prince or the halfbreed. It was possible the halfbreed was the red paladin and the prince was the one controlling the Castle. However, Sendak suspected the red paladin was the pointy-eared bastard.

Either way, Sendak wanted both of those two alive. Zarkon had commanded Sendak to bring the Altean prince to him alive and Sendak would obey his emperor, no matter much it irked him to do so. But the halfbreed he wanted alive, so he could have his overdue revenge. If Sendak was able to snag a Druid from another battlecruiser or trade post, then he could take his anger out on the prince as well without having to worry about lingering visible damage. Plus, he could all but guarantee he could work that stubborn resistance out of the prince until the pacifist brat submitted to him.

He looked forward to that day.

“Sir.”

“What is it, Haxus?” Sendak said curtly, keeping his eyes on the Castle.

“The local population has made contact with the Castle.”

“And I would be interested in this, why?” Sendak said, turning his glare to Haxus.

His second-in-command did not flinch. In fact, he smirked. “Apparently, the paladins plan to host a gathering in the interest of strengthening peaceful relations.”

“Again,” Sendak growled, “why would I-”

“The prince and the halfbreed will be there.”

“Ah.” Sendak squared his shoulders.

“As I understand it,” Haxus said, glancing at one of the drones, “the Castle doors will be left open during the whole event for the guests to come and go as they please.”

“Will they indeed?” Sendak purred, turning back to the gleaming Castle. “Then, in the interest of strengthening relations, it would be rude not to pay our respects with a suitable show of strength.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Altean in Hiding](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14097705) by [aestheticalistic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aestheticalistic/pseuds/aestheticalistic), [RiceKrispyTreat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiceKrispyTreat/pseuds/RiceKrispyTreat), [SimplyEssa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyEssa/pseuds/SimplyEssa)




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